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BOOK    953.G42   c   1 

EiRTfJtT*T^M?c'    °'    SARACENS    FROM 
lin?mS,.M  ^^m,?.„T°   ''^LL    OF    BAGDAD 


3  T1S3  000313SE  0 


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Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2009  with  funding  from 

Boston  Library  Consortium  IVIember  Libraries 


http://www.archive.org/details/storyofsaracensf1894gilm 


THE 

STORY  OF  THE  SARACENS 


FROM  THE 


EARLIEST     TIMES    TO    THE    FALL    OF     BAGDAD 


ARTHUR    OILMAN,  M.A. 

AUTHOR    OF    "a    HISTORY    OF    THE    AMERICAN     PEOPLE,"    "  THE    STORY    OF    ROME  ' 

ETC. 

WITH    MAPS,    MANY    ILLUSTRATIONS,    A    CHRONOLOGICAL   TABLE,    AND    A    LIST    OF 
BOOKS  TREATING  THE  SUBJECT 


"  I   like  the  Mussulman  ;   he  is  not  ashamed  of  his  God  ;   his  life  is  a  fairly 
pure  one."— General  Gordon 


NEW  YORK 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 

LONDON:     T.  FISHER  UNWIN 

1894 


^C 


G?4e^ 


COPYRIGHT   BY 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 

1886 


Electrotyped,  Printed  and  Bound  by 

tCbe  Iknicfcerbocfter  press,  IRew  Igorfe 
G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 


PREFACE. 


When  the  Greeks  and  Romans  mentioned  the 
tribes  that  ranged  the  deserts  west  of  the  Euphrates, 
they  called  them  Saracens  (^apaurjvoi — Saraceni), 
a  name  of  which  no  philologist  has  yet  given  the 
signification.  Perhaps  it  meant  '*  The  People  of  the 
Desert,"  from  the  Arabic  sahra,  a  desert  ;  or,  "■  The 
People  of  the  East,"  from  sharq^  the  rising  sun.* 

After  this  name  had  been  used  in  an  indefinite 
manner  for  all  the  unknown  tribes  of  the  desert,  it 
was  given  to  the  followers  of  Mohammed  ;  and  it  is 
used  in  that  sense  in  the  following  pages,  thus  com- 
prising many  different  nations,  scattered  at  times 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific. 

When  Pierre  Vattier,  counsellor  and  physician  to 
the  Duke  of  Orleans,  ventured,  in  the  year  1657, 
to  translate  into  French  Elmacin's  story  of  the  kalifs, 
he  thought  it  necessary  to  apologize  to  his  polite 
readers  for  introducing  to  them  a  host  of  barbarians, 
enemies  of  the  Christian  faith.  He  argued  well, 
however,  that  Frenchmen  were  accustomed  to  study 

*  It  may  be  objected  that  it  is  improbable  that  the  Arabs  should 
have  originated  their  own  name  in  that  way.  It  is  possible  that 
they  might  have  called  themselves  "  Sons  of  the  Desert,"  but,  cer- 
tainly, they  were  not  to  themselves  "  The  Eastern  People." 


IV  PREFACE, 

with  interest  the  history  of  Rome,  which  was  a  coun- 
try of  sworn  enemies  to  the  true  reHgion,  and  that 
the  kalifs  would  be  found  much  more  Christian,  in 
their  deaHngs  with  other  nations,  than  the  Roman 
emperors  were. 

One  is  no  longer  obliged  thus  to  apologize  for  con- 
ducting any  historical  investigation,  and  we  may 
study  the  career  of  the  Saracens  as  one  of  the  most 
interesting  that  the  past  can  spread  before  us. 

Though  the  present  volume  is  mainly  devoted  to 
the  period  before  the  Crusades  lent  brilliancy  to  the 
subject,  and  does  not  include  the  thrilling  narrative 
of  the  Moors  in  Spain,  the  greatest  embarrassment 
of  the  author  has  arisen  from  the  amplitude  of  the 
theme.  The  life  of  the  founder  of  Islam  has  alone 
given  rise  to  many  volumes  more  extensive  than 
this  one  is  allowed  to  be  ;  and  the  conquests  of  the 
rovi-ng  tribes  of  Asia  as  they  progressed  westward, 
might  well  occupy  more  pages  than  are  now  at 
command.  The  author  can  only  hope  that  he  has 
not  carried  the  process  of  condensation  to  a  point 
that  will  deprive  his  most  interesting  story  of  the 
value  that  intrinsically  belongs  to  it. 

A.  G. 

Cambridge,  September  6,  1886. 


CONTENTS. 

I.  PAGE 

How  THE  Story  Begins  ....         1-13 

The  strange  land  south  of  Palestine,  i— The  proud  sons  of 
the  sands,  2 — A  change  coming,  2 — Rome  and  Persia,  3 — 
Constantinople  the  Roman  capital,  4— The  Jews,  6— Ara- 
bian commerce,  7 — Region  of  Petra  and  Mount  Hor,  8 — 
The  queen  of  Sheba,  10— A  visit  to  Solomon,  12— Solo- 
mon's wondrous  ring,  13. 

II. 

ii-EATURES  OF  FiRE,  LiGHT,   AND  ClAY   .  .  14-2I 

Guesses  at  Arabian  belief,  14— Jinns  made  of  fire,  15— The 
Jinns  rebel  against  Allah,  16 — Angels  made  of  pure  light, 
17 — Eavesdroppers  at  the  gates  of  heaven,  18 — Doings  of 
the  Jinns,  19 — Late  conceptions  of  paradise,  19— The  month 
Ramadan,  20. 

III. 

The  Times  OF  Ignorance       ....         ^2-33 

A  pure  white  stone  falls,  22— The  Kaaba,  24— Traders  be- 
tween Palestine  and  Arabia,  25— Rome  penetrates  the  mys- 
terious land,  26— The  position  of  Mecca,  28— Hejaz,  the 
land  of  pilgrimage,  28— Kossai  and  the  Koreish,  30— Rites 
of  the  pilgrimage,  31— Strife,  32— Abdalla  born,  32. 

IV. 

TuE  Year  of  the  Elephant  .         .         .         34-4° 

Abraha  of  Abyssinia,  34— Taif  directs  him  to  Mecca,  35— 
Abd  al  Muttalib,  36— A  miracle,  37— Abdalla's  marriage 
with  Amina,  38 — Birth  of  a  wonderful  boy,  39 — Moham- 
med, the  praised  one,  40. 


VI  CONTENTS. 


The  Sacrilegious  War  ....         41-49 

Halima,  the  foster-mother,  41 — Boy-life  in  the  mountain 
wilds,  42 — Mohammed  an  orphan,  43 — Abu  Talib  interests 
his  nephew  in  the  worship  of  the  Kaaba,  44 — Mohammed 
goes  to  Syria  with  a  caravan,  44 — A  boy  without  books, 
46 — Letters  at  Okatz,  47 — War  in  holy  time,  48 — A  victory 
of  peace,  49. 

VI. 

The  Camel-Driver  of  the  Desert        .         .         50-58 
Signs  of  good  omen,  50 — A  group  of  Hanifs,  51 — Seekers 
for  good,  52 — Mohammed's  solitary  days  as  a  shepherd,  54 — 
Kadija  appears,  55 — Mohammed's  appearance,   55 — Court- 
ship and  marriage,  57 — A  benediction,  58. 

VII. 
The  Man  of  Affairs  Meditates  .         .         59-67 

Domestic  peace,  59— Leisure  for  thought,  60 — The  faith  of 
the  Arabians,  62 — Customs,  63 — Mohammed  as  an  ancho- 
rite, 63 — Ecstasies  and  trances,  64 — Powerful  cries,  65 — 
Mohammed's  prestige  growing,  66. 

VIIL 
The  Month  Ramadan  ....         68-77 

A  change  in  the  husband  of  Kadija,  68 — The  month  of  fast- 
xig  and  prayer,  70 — The  blessed  night  "  al  Kadar,"  71 — 
Gabriel  appears,  72 — "  Cry,  in  the  name  of  Allah  !  "  74 — 
Thoughts  of  suicide,  75 — Strong  faith,  76 — Abu  Talib  ad- 
heres to  the  faith  of  his  ancestors,  77. 

IX. 

A  Prophet  with  Little  Honor  .         .         78-86 

The  career  of  the  prophet,  78 — Idolatry  to  be  overthrown, 
79 — Converts,  80 — Revelations  more  frequent,  80 — Islam, 
the  revival  of  the  faith  of  Abraham,  81 — The  Koran,  82 — 
The  Koreishites  invited,  82— Ali  called  "  kalif,"  83— The 
Koreishites  threaten,  84 — Abu  Talib's  emotion,  85 — The 
blind  man,  86. 


CONTENTS.  Vll 

X.  PAGE 

Fugitives  in  a  Strange  Land       .         .         .         87-94 

An  explanation  needed,  87 — Policy  of  the  enemy,  88 — 
Fratricidal  war  imminent,  8g — Yathrib  warns  against  dis- 
cord, 89 — Hamza.the  lion  of  Allah, 90 — Mohammed  tempted, 
91 — A  rash  act,  92 — Emigration  to  Abyssinia,  93 — Omar 
converted,  93 — Mohammed  under  a  ban,  94. 

XI. 

A  Twofold  Cord  Broken  .         ,         .         95-101 

A  sad  prophet,  95 — Kadija  dies,  96 — Abu  Talib  dies,  96 — 
A  mission  to  Taif,  97 — Discomfiture,  98 — The  Jinns  listen, 
99 — Convert-pilgrims  from  Yathrib,  100 — The  first  pledge 
of  Akaba  (pledge  of  the  women),  loi. 

XII. 

To  THE  Seventh  Heaven  .         .         .         102-111 

Dreams  and  visions,  102 — Mohammed's  vision,  104 — The 
Borak,  105 — At  the  temple  in  Jerusalem,  106 — In  the  sev- 
enth heaven,  108 — The  muezzin's  call  to  prayer,  no — A 
change  in  Mohammed,  III. 

XIII. 

In  a  Cave 11 2-1 19 

Confident  but  not  aggressive,  112 — The  second  meeting  on 
the  hill  Akaba,  113— The  second  oath  of  Akaba,  115 — 
"Depart  to  Medina!"  116— Anxious  to  start,  117 — The 
Hejra,  118 — Refuge  in  a  cave,  119. 

XIV. 
The  Year  One  ....         120-128 

Various  chronologies,  120 — Beginning  of  the  Arabian  era, 
121 — The  three  days  in  the  cave,  122 — Journeying  to  Ya- 
thrib, 123 — Hope  and  fear  on  the  way,  124 — Arrival  at  Koba, 
125 — The  triumphal  entrance,  127 — Parties  at  Yathrib,  127 — 
Mohammed's  difficult  task,  128, 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

^V.  PAGE 

Islam  .......         129-137 

A  grand  conception,  129 — The  simple  doctrines,  130 — The 
paradise,  131 — A  mixture  of  good  and  evil,  132 — Differences 
in  the  length  of  the  suras,  133 — Evolution  of  Mohammed's 
claims,  134 — The  wondrous  effect  of  the  prophet's  preach- 
ir»g.  135 — Good  traits  of  Islam,  136. 

XVI. 

The  Sword  is  Drawn  ....  138-150 

Yathrib  called  Medina,  138 — The  national  kibla,  139 — The 
muezzin's  call  established,  140 — The  prophet's  simple  life, 
141 — A  brotherhood  formed,  142 — The  different  Semitic 
prophets,  143  —  The  Meccan  caravans  threatened,  144 — Abu 
Sofian,  146 — Angry  passions  rise,  147 — Mecca  alarmed,  148 
— Victory  at  Bedr,  149 — Sorrow  at  Mecca,  150. 

XVII. 
Victory  for  Mecca  .         .         .     '  .         151-158 

Change  in  the  prophet's  trust,  151 — Secret  assassination, 
152 — Battle  of  the  mealsacks,  153 — Mohammed  girds  on 
his  armor,  154 — The  jagged  flanks  of  Ohud,  156 — Islam 
defeated,  157 — Power  of  the  prophet's  eloquence,  158. 

XVIII. 
The  Battle  of  the  Ditch         .         .         .         159-167 

Breaking  down  the  Jewish  power,  159 — Mohammed  enam- 
oured of  Zeyd's  wife,  160 — Fatima  marries  Ali,  161 — Rules 
for  wives,  162 — Estrangement  from  Ayesha,  162 — The  new 
style  of  warfare,  164 — Allah  said  to  have  interfered,  165 — 
Jews  slaughtered,  166 — An  enchantment,  167. 

XIX. 

Exiles  in  an  Empty  City  .         .         .         168-177 

Mohammed  irritated,  though  strong,  168 — An  attempted  pil- 
grimage, 169 — Confronted  by  an  enemy,  170 — The  pledge  of 
the  tree,  172 — A  disappointing"  victory,"  173 — A  signet  ring 


CONTENTS.  IX 


engraved,  173— Jews  of  Keibar  exiled,  175— The  Moslems 
perform   the   pilgrimage,    176 — Kalid  and   Amr  converted, 

177. 

XX. 

The  Mother  of  Cities  Conquered  .         178-185 

Mohammed's  summons  to  the  nations,  178 — He  opposes  the 
empire,  179— A  repulse,  180 — An  attempt  upon  Mecca, 
182 — Abbas  joins  Islam,  183 — Mohammed  enters  Mecca, 
184 — Mercy  of  the  conqueror,  185. 

XXI. 

How  Taif  was  Besieged  and  Taken  .  1S6-197 
Taif  alarmed,  186 — A  battle  at  Honein,  187 — Taif  besieged, 
188 — Mohammed  mobbed  at  Medina,  189 — Ibrahim  born, 
igo — Christians  send  a  deputation  to  Mohammcdj  19c — ^Taif 
still  unconquered,  194 — It  surrenders,  195 — An  expedition 
against  the  Romans,  196 — Is  war  over?  197. 

XXII. 
A  Farewell  Pilgrimage  .         .         .         198-207 

Idolaters  cowed,  198 — They  are  to  be  killed,  199 — The 
prophet's  power  increasing,  200— He  makes  a  progress  to 
Mecca,  201 — A  sermon  in  the  mosque,  202 — Rivals  appear, 
203 — Osama,  son  of  Zeyd,  sent  against  the  Romans,  204 — 
The  prophet's  end  approaching,  205 — Last  words,  206 — 
Death,  207. 

XXIII. 
The  First  Successor  ^        .         .         -         208-217 

Feelings  of  the  people  on  the  death  of  Mohammed,  208 — 
His  form  and  behavior,  210 — His  system,  21 1 — His  reforms, 
212 — His  idea  of  God,  213 — He  was  not  an  impostor,  214 — 
Sadness  in  Medina,  215— Abu  Bekr  chosen  kalif,  216 — His 
policy  foreshadowed,  217. 


CONTENTS, 


XXIV. 


Can  Islam  be  Shaken  Off  ?  .  .  .  218-225 
Who  was  Abu  Bekr  ?  218 — Claims  of  others  on  the  office  of 
kalif,  219 — Ali's  "  right,"  220 — Nedj  wants  to  pray  but  not 
pay  tribute,  221 — The  kalif 's  reliance  upon  Kalid,  222 — 
The  rivals  defeated,  223 — The  Koran  in  danger  of  being 
lost,  224 — Islam  not  to  be  shaken  off,  225. 

XXV. 

Reaching  out  to  Chaldea  and  Babylonia,    226-23? 

The  dependence  of  despots  upon  war,  226 — Mesopotamia 
attracts  the  Moslems,  227^-Kalid  offers  the  Persians  Islam, 
or  death,  228 — Bloody  battles,  229 — Campaigns  against  the 
Romans  in  Syria,  230 — The  struggle  at  Wacusa,  231  — 
Abu  Bekr  dies,  232. 

XXVI. 

Palestine  and  Mesopotamia  Conquered,         233-241 

Great  changes  coming,  233 — Omar's  policy,  234 — Mesopota- 
mia conquered,  235 — The  strugle  at  Kadesia,  236 — Kufa 
and  Bassora  hotbeds  of  faction,  238 — The  attempt  upon 
Damascus,  239 — Its  success,  240 — All  of  Central  Syria  con- 
quered, 241. 

XXVII. 

Jerusalem  Captured  ....         242-250 

Courage  and  ambition  increasing,  242 — Aleppo  ingloriously 
gives  up,  243 — Jews  expelled,  245 — Campaign  of  Amr  in 
Palestine,  246 — Omar  goes  to  Jerusalem,  248 — Terms  made 
at  Jerusalem,  249 — Omar  enters  the  city,  250. 

XXVIII. 
How  Egypt  and  Persia  were  Conquered,       251-262 

Omar  founds  a  mosque  and  returns,  251 — The  Romans 
routed  by  the  Moslems,  252 — The  year  of  plague  and 
drought,  253 — Amr's  campaign  in  Egypt,  254 — Fostat 
founded,  254 — Yezdegird  overcome,  256-258 — The  era  of 
the  Hejra  established,  260 — Omar's  assassination,  261. 


CONTENTS.  xi 


XXIX. 


Favoritism  and  Intrigue  .         .         .         263-271 

The  golden  age  passed,  263 — Wrangling  between  rival  fac- 
tions, 264 — Tabular  view  of  _the  genealogy  of  the  kalifs, 
265 — Character  of  Othman,  266 — Rebellions  in  Persia,  267 
— Unhappy  choice  of  governors,  268 — The  kalifate  under- 
mined by  conspirators,  269 — Othman  insulted,  270 — Assas- 
sination of  the  kalif,  271. 

XXX. 

The  Misfortunes  of  Ali,  Father  of  Hasan,    272-287 

A  gloomy  outlook,  272 — Ali  becomes  kalif,  273 — Mecca  a 
centre  of  intrigue,  274 — Ayesha  goes  to  Bassora,  275 — An 
appeal  to  Kufa,  276 — The  day  of  the  camel,  277 — Victory 
for  Ali,  278 — Moawia  enters  the  struggle,  279 — The  battle 
at  Siffin,  280 — Moawia  gains  the  advantage,  281 — The 
Karejites,  282 — Moawia  enters  Bassora,  284 — Desperate 
Karejites  conspire,  285 — Character  of  Ali,  286 — Moawia 
kalif,   287. 

XXXI. 

The  Tragedy  of  Moharrem     .  .         .         288-307 

Damascus  becomes  the  capital,  288 — Ziyad  becomes  a  sup- 
porter of  Moawia,  2go — Obeidalla,  291 — The  first  attempt 
upon  Constantinople,  292 — A  treaty,  293 — Advances  in 
Africa,  294 — Yezid  made  heir-apparent,  295 — Moawia's 
last  counsels,  296 — Death  and  character  of  Moawia,  297 — 
Hosein  called  to  the  kalifate,  298 — Yezid  opposes  him,  301 — 
Death  of  Hosein  at  Kerbala,  303 — The  commemoration  of 
the  event,  304 — Abdalla  rises  at  Medina,  305 — Mecca  be- 
sieged, 306 — An  opportunity  lost,  307. 

XXXII. 

The  Victories  of  Abd  el  Melik        .         .         308-320 

Importance  of  the  death  of  Hosein,  308 — More  trouble  with 
the  Karejites,  310 — Abd  el  Melik  comes  to  the  throne,  311 — 
]VIoktar,  311 — A  division  of  the  kalifate,  312 — Musab  slain, 


xil  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

313 — Gruesome  transactions,  314 — Bloody  Hejaj,  315 — 
Wasit  founded,  316 — Karejites  rise  again,  317 — The  Berbers 
overcome,  318 — Letters  encouraged,  320. 

XXXIII. 

The  Glory  of  the  Omiades       .         ,         ,     '    321-333 

Walid  kalif,  321— Conquest  and  luxury,  322 — Musa  in  Africa, 
324 — Roderick,  the  last  of  the  Goths,  325 — Count  Julian's 
treachery,  326 — Tarik  and  Tarif,  328 — Roderick,  killed,  329 
— Spain  conquered,  330 — Musa's  magnificent  plan,  332 — 
The  fall  of  Musa  and  Tarik,  333. 

XXXIV. 

The  Stroke  of  the  Hammer  .         .         334-346 

The  rrloric:,  cJ  the  Omiades  passed,  334 — Musa's  report, 
335 — A  defeat  at  Constantinople,  336 — Another  reverse, 
337 — Invasion  of  France,  338 — Fury  of  the  Saracens,  339 — 
Grasping  governors,  340 — The  battle  near  Tours,  341 — 
Charles  Martel  victor,  342 — The  mysterious  Kazars,  345. 

XXXV. 

The  Black  Flag  of  Abbas         .         .         .         347-353 
Years  of  civil  war,  347 — Rise  of  the  Abbassides,  348 — ^A  de- 
ceptive peace,  349 — Conspirators  at  Merv,  350 — A  decisive 
battle  on  the  Zab,  351 — Destruction  of  the  Omiades,  352 — 
A  plan  to  establish  a  dynasty,  353. 

XXXVI. 
By  Bagdad's  Shrines  ....         354-365 

A  pilgrimage  to  Mecca,  354 — Muslim  at  Nisibis,  355 — Rise 
of  the  Rawendites,  356 — Bagdad  founded,  357 — The  Barme- 
cides appear,  358 — Hopes  of  the  Alyites  cast  down,  359 — 
Death  of  Mansur,  360 — A  luxurious  pilgrimage,  361 — The 
veiled  prophet  of  Korassan,  362 — Luxury  weakens  the 
kalifate,  363 — Constantinople  pays  tribute,  364 — Rise  of 
Freethinkers,  365. 


CONTENTS,  xili 


XXXVII. 


Aaron  the  Orthodox        .         »         .         .         366-377 

A  brilliant  period,  366 — The  Bagdad  of  story,  367 — Art  and 
letters  flourish,  368 — Correspondence  with  the  emperor,  370 
— Fall  of  the  Barmecides,  371 — The  orthodoxy  of  Harun. 
372 — Revolt  in  Korassan,  373 — Death  of  Harun,  374 — Per- 
sians and  Arabs  jealous,  375 — A  fratricidal  strife,  376 — ^Ma- 
mun  proclaimed,  377. 

XXXVIII. 
Gold  and  Dross  .....         378-389 

Fadhl  th'"  prime-minister,  378 — Anarchy  in  Bagdad,  379 — A 
sop  to  the  Aityites,  380 — Mamun  acts  vigorously,  381 — Dis- 
simulation, 3&2 — Persian  influence  grows  stronger,  383 — 
Rationalism,  384 — The  nature  of  the  Koran  discussed,  385 
— A  war  for  a  philosopher,  386 — Death  of  Mamun,  387 — 
His  encouragement  of  science  and  art,  388 — His  tolera- 
tion, 389. 

XXXIX. 

Glimmerings  and  Decays  .         .         .         390-403 

The  orthodox  persecuted,  390 — Babek  and  his  sect,  391 — 
War  with  the  empire,  392 — The  Turks  advanced  in  the 
kalifate,  394 — Persecutions  of  Moslems  and  Christians,  395 
— Turks  almost  masters  of  the  government,  396 — A  great 
palace  at  Samarra,  398 — Motawakkel  assassinated,  399 — 
The  Turkish  body-guard  supreme,  400 — Enthusiasm  for 
war  a  thing  of  the  past,  401 — Wathek  exalts  the  Koran 
again,  402 — Primitive  principles,  403. 

XL. 
The  Grip  OF  THE  Turk  Tightens     .         .         404-422 

The  Taherites  of  Korassan,  404— The  Soffarides,  405 — The 
Tulunides,  406 — The  Alyites,  407 — The  Karmathians,  408— 
Rise  of  the  Samanades,  408 — Amr,  brother  of  Yakub,  meets 
a  ludicrous  mischance,  409 — End  of  the  Soffarides,  410 — The 
Karmathians  give  trouble  in  Syria,  411 — A  young  kalif,  412 
— The  Fatimites  in  Africa,  413 — Expectation  of  a  mahdi. 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

414 — An  embassy  from  Constantinople,  416 — Oriental  mag- 
nificence, 418 — The  Karmathians  in  Syria,  420 — Terror  in 
Bagdad,  421 — Moktader  murdered,  422. 

XLI. 
The  Fatal  Blow  ....         423-442 

The  germs  of  decay,  423 — Strong  helpers  become  masters, 
424 — Kaher  deposed,  425 — The  Buvides  from  Persia,  426 — 
The  fall  of  Radi,  427 — The  power  of  the  kalifs  lost,  428 — 
The  princes  of  princes  supreme,  429 — The  Fatimites  once 
more,  430 — Letters  flourish  again,  431 — The  Gaznivides 
and  Seljuks,  432 — The  Old  Man  of  the  Mountains,  434 — 
A  glimpse  of  Bagdad,  436 — Jengis  Kahn,  440 — Hulaku  cap- 
tures Bagdad,  441 — The  frightful  end,  441. 

Noldeke's  Order  of  the  Suras  of  the  Koran  .  443 

A  Chronological  Table,  a.d.  565-1261      .  445 
List  of  Books  Used  in  Preparing  The  Story 

OF  THE  Saracens 451 

Index     ......         1         .         .  47^ 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


VIEW    OF    MECCA    IN     THE     SEVENTEENTH    CENTURY 
it 


Frontispiece. 
5 


FROM  MULLER  S       ISLAM 
RUINS  OF   FEIRAN,  SHOWING  TWO  WADIES 
MOUNT  HOR,  ON  THE    ROUTE   FROM  ARABIA  TO  PAL- 
ESTINE         

CAMEL-RIDERS  OF  THE  DESERT 

MODERN  PILGRIMS  BATHING  IN  ZEM-ZEM  . 

AN  ENCAMPMENT  OF  ARABIAN  PILGRIMS  . 

THE  MOSQUE  AT  MECCA     .... 

VIEW  IN  PETRA,  ON     THE    ROUTE    FROM    ARABIA    TO 

PALESTINE 

A  DESERT  SOLITUDE  .  .  .  . 

TOMB  OF  FATIMA  AT  DAMASCUS 

BEDAWIN  WOMEN  FROM  BAALBEK. 

VIEW  FROM  MOUNT  HOR   .  .  .  .  , 

THE  KAABA,  SHOWING  MODERN  PILGRIMS 

INTERIOR  OF  THE  MOSQUE  OF    OMAR  AT  JERUSALEM 

THE  MOSQUE  OF  OMAR  AT  JERUSALEM 

ARABIAN  WEAPONS  OF  DIFFERENT  PERIODS 

HELMET  OF  AN  ARABIAN  PRINCE  OF  EGYPT 

ARABIAN  WOMEN,  WATER-CARRIERS 

A  PILGRIM  ENCAMPMENT  NEAR  MEDINA 

A  YOUNG  COPTIC  WOMAN 

VIEW  IN  MEDINA         .... 

MOHAMMED    


9 
II 

23 
26 
29 


45 

53 

61 

69 

73 

85 

107 

109 

145 

155 

163 

171 

191 

193 
209 


XV i  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

SEALS  OF  THE  EARLY  KALIFS,  ABU  BEKR,  OMAR,  OTH-  ^^^^ 

MAN,   ALI 237 

MAP  OF  DAMASCUS  AND  THE  REGION  AROUND  .  .  247 

VIEW  OF  A  PORTION  OF  THE  WALLS  OF  JERUSALEM,  248 

INTERIOR  OF  THE  MOSQUE  OF  AMR  AT  CAIRO     .  .  255 

A  MOSQUE  AT  ISPAHAN 257 

RESTORED  ELEVATION    OF    THE    MOSQUE  AT  TABRIZ, 

CAPITAL  OF  AZERBAIJAN  IN  NORTHERN  PERSIA,  259 
GENEALOGICAL     LINE     OF     THE     KALIFS,    FROM     ABU 

BEKR  TO  RADI 265 

A  YOUNG  SYRIAN  GIRL 280 

INTERIOR  OF    THE    MOSQUE    AT    ISPAHAN,    SHOWING 

AN  ISLAMITE  PREACHING-PLACE  .  .  .  283 

MAUSOLEUM  OF  TAMERLANE  AT  SAMARKAND    .  .  289 

ANCIENT  MOSQUE  OF  KAIRWAN  ....  293 

VIEW  OF  TUNIS  .......  295 

VIEW  OF  THE  MOSQUE  OF  HASAN  AT  CAIRO  .  .  299 

COIN  OF  THE  OMIADES,  ABOUT  725   A.D,     .  .  .  305 

COINS  OF  THE  EARLY  KALIFS 317 

A  BERBER  VILLAGE 319 

ENCLOSURE  OF  THE  MOSQUE  OF  OMAR  AT  JERUSALEM,  323 

AN  ALGERIAN  BERBER 327 

A  BERBER  WOMAN 331 

PLAIN  OF  THE  TOMBS  AND  MOSQUE  OF  MEHEMET  ALI 

AT  CAIRO 343 

COURT  OF  THE  GREAT  MOSQUE  OF  DAMASCUS    .  .  349 

COIN  OF  MEHDI  .......  361 

WATER-MERCHANTS  AT  CAIRO  ....  369 

COIN  OF  THE  KALIF  MAMUN 379 

A  VIEW  IN  CONSTANTINOPLE 393 

A  SUBURB  OF  DAMASCUS 397 

COIN  OF  TULUN,  A.D.  876 405 

AN  ARABIAN  ENCAMPMENT 409 

GENERAL  VIEW  OF  CAIRO 4l5 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Xvil 


MAP  OF  CONSTANTINOPLE  AND  THE  REGIONS  ABOUT, 
VIEW  OF  A  MOSQUE  AT  BAGDAD  .... 

COIN  OF  THE  KALIF  RADI 

GOLD    COINS    OF    THE    FATIMITE    KALIFS,   IO50     AND 

1072  A.D. 

ARABIAN  BREAD-SELLER  AT  JERUSALEM    . 

WALLS  OF  DAMASCUS  .,.,.. 


PAGE 

435 
439 


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THE 

STORY   OF   THE    SARACENS. 


HOW   THE   STORY   BEGINS. 

East  of  the  Red  Sea,  and  just  south  of  Palestine, 
there  lies  a  strange  land,  belonging,  we  sometimes 
think,  neither  to  Europe,  nor  to  Asia,  nor  to  Africa. 
Its  rocky  borders  are  washed  by  water  on  three  sides, 
while  on  the  fourth  there  lies  a  sandy  desert  of  such 
little  importance  that  men  hardly  care  to  own  it,  and 
no  boundary  line  is  drawn  to  show  where  one  na- 
tion's possessions  end  and  the  territory  of  the  next 
neighbor  begins.  Sandy  and  rocky,  almost  without 
rivers  or  lakes,  except  in  favored  regions,  with  a  great 
part  entirely  unknown,  save,  perhaps,  to  a  few  lonely 
wanderers  or  enthusiastic  travellers,  who  have  ven- 
tured to  explore  its  barren  wastes,  this  land  was,  at 
the  time  of  which  we  write,  strange  to  all  the  world. 
Roman  and  Macedonian,  Jew  and  Gentile,  had  wan- 
dered around  it  ;  but  no  nation  cared  to  inquire 
what  secrets  lay  hidden  in  its  broad  and  treacherous 
deserts.  The  haughty  inhabitants  looked  back 
through  many  generations  and  assured   each   other 


2  HO  IV  THE   STORY  BEGINS. 

that  they  were  the  ancient  ones, — that  they  had 
Adam  and  Noah  and  Abraham  and  Ishmael  for  their 
fathers,  and  they  cared  as  httle  for  the  rest  of  the 
world  as  the  rest  of  the  world  cared  for  them. 

For  how  many  generations  these  peculiar  sons  of 
the  sands  had  lived  in  their  primitiv^e  simplicity;  for 
how  many  centuries  they  had  fought  the  terrible 
simoons,  and  had  carried  their  small  merchandise 
over  the  deserts  in  a  venerable  commerce  ;  for  what 
length  of  time  they  had  dwelt  in  tents,  feeding  their 
dusky  children  with  the  dates  and  tamarinds  that 
clustered  on  the  branches  which  shaded  them  from 
the  tropical  sun,  we  cannot  tell.  They  had  no  books, 
and  their  traditions  were  so  evidently  framed  to 
bolster  up  a  national  pride  that  we  cannot  depend 
upon  them  as  truth. 

At  the  time  at  which  our  story  begins  a  change 
was  about  to  come  over  this  strange  people  ;  they 
were  to  be  known  of  all  men.  They  were  no  longer 
to  be  simply  mysterious  sons  of  the  desert,  but 
something  more.  Mystery  was  certainly  to  be 
always  about  them,  but  they  were  to  have  dealings 
with  men  which  were  destined  to  carry  their  name 
and  their  fame  to  all  lands  and  to  the  end  of  time. 

It  is  to  this  people  that  the  story  of  the  Saracens 
calls  us.  It  carries  us  back  to  a  period  several  cen- 
turies before  the  Norman  invasion  of  England ;  to  a 
time  when  our  ancestors  were  bowing  their  heads  to 
Woden  ;  but  it  introduces  us  to  quite  a  different  world, 
— it  shows  us  a  Semitic  instead  of  an  Aryan  type  of 
social  life.  It  interests  us,  people  of  another  race 
of  humanity,  for  the  reason  that  it  is  new. 


OPPOSING  EMPIRES.  3 

Hundreds  of  years  before  our  story  begins  Greece 
had  fallen  before  Alexander,  and  Rome  had  become 
master  of  it  and  of  Macedonia  too.  Rome  had 
passed  through  its  age  of  myth,  its  heroic  and  its 
golden  ages, — had  been  a  kingdom,  a  republic,  and 
an  empire  by  turns,  and  at  last,  after  all  its  conquests, 
had  been  humbled  by  the  army  of  barbarians  which 
poured  into  it  from  the  land  of  the  Hyperboreans.  For 
two  hundred  years,  indeed,  she  had  mourned  the  ruin 
wrought  by  Alaric,  Attila,  and  Genseric  ;  and  now 
the  very  sceptre  had  been  removed  from  the  Tiber 
to  the  Bosphorus.  There,  on  the  shores  of  the 
Golden  Horn,  the  emperor  of  Constantinople  stood 
over  against  the  king  of  Persia,  dividing,  as  he 
thought,  the  empire  of  the  earth  with  him,  and  ever 
and  anon  making  incursion  into  his  territories.  Thus 
was  continued  a  struggle  which  lasted  seven  centuries ; 
as  Gibbon  says, — "  from  the  death  of  Crassus  to  the 
reign  of  Heraclius," — the  emperor  hoping  that  some 
day  he  might  grasp  the  whole  vast  realm  of  Chosroes 
and  sit  monarch  in  his  very  palace. 

One  day,  when  forced  to  flee  from  his  own  king- 
dom, a  Chosroes  found  asylum  in  the  dominions  of 
the  Emperor  Maurice  ;  but  the  kind  treatment  he 
received  did  not  insure  peace.  When  the  hospitable 
Maurice  was  killed  by  a  usurper  (a.  D.  602),  the 
Persian  pretended  a  desire  to  avenge  the  crime,  and 
the  next  year  entered  upon  the  most  deadly  war  that 
was  waged  between  the  two  peoples.  After  the 
fighting  had  been  going  on  a  few  years,  Heraclius 
overcame  the  usurper  Phocas,  put  him  to  death,  and 
gracefully  yielded  to  the  popular  entreaties  that  he 


4  ffOtV  THE  STORY  B  EC  INS, 

should  assume  the  purple  (a.  D.  6io).  He  then 
took  up  the  war  with  Chosroes,  ventured  far  into  the 
Persian  country,  won  a  decisive  victory  at  Nineveh 
on  the.  river  Tigris  (a.  D.  627),  forced  the.  Persian 
king  to  flight,  and  celebrated  triumphs  both  at  Con- 
stantinople and  Jerusalem.* 

Before  this  time  Europe  had  been  overrun  by  the 
Huns,  who,  for  a  while,  fed  their  flocks  on  the  pas- 
ture-lands of  Southern  Russia,  in  Poland,  and  in 
Hungary  ;  the  Vandals,  the  Goths,  the  Burgundians, 
and  the  Franks  had  also  formed  a  portion  of  the 
seething  mass  of  fierce  humanity  which  had  surged 
through  the  regions  watered  by  the  Rhone,  the  Rhine, 
the  Seine,  the  Danube,  the,  Po,  and  the  Dnieper. 

The  sovereign  who  held  his  seat  at  Constantinople 
was  not  a  Greek  emperor ;  the  Roman  power  had 
simply  been  joined  to  that  of  the  East  at  the  time 
(a.  D.  476)  when  it  is  customary  to  say .  that  the 
Western  empire  ''fell."  Our  story  will  bring  us 
also  into  contact  with  the  hordes  of  shifting  tribes 
that  had  been  for  generations,  all  unknown  to  other 
peoples,  strengthening  their  sinews  and  increasing 
their  numbers  on  the  northern  plains  of  Asia,  and 
throughout  the  mountains  and  valleys  of  Turkestan, 
and  the  regions  beyond. 

*  It  is  to  be  remarked  that  at  the  moment  when  Heraclius  was 
enjoying  these  triumphs  his  troops  were  cut  to  pieces  at  a  small  town 
in  Southern  Syria  by  some  Saracens  (see  chap,  xx.);  and  that  when, 
in  711,  the  dynasty  which  he  established  was  extinguished  at  Con- 
stantinople, the  then  insignificant  Arabian  tribe  ruled  from  Damascus 
its  most  extensive  dominions  (see  chap,  xxxiii.).  For  an  interesting 
account  of  the  relations  between  Heraclius  and  Chosroes  II.,  see 
Gibbon's  "  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,"  chapter  xlvi. 


6  ffOW   THE   STORY  BEGINS. 

In  the  Bible,  we  have  the  history  of  a  nation  that 
dwelt  quite  near  the  people  of  whom  we  are  writ- 
ing. The  Jews  of  Palestine  were  curiously  con- 
nected with  the  men  of  the  deserts,  and  yet,  in  most 
respects,  they  were  strangely  separate  in  their  busi- 
ness, their  religion,  and  their  lives.  Through  Ish- 
mael,  the  Saracens  looked  back  to  the  same  ances- 
tors, and  many  among  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Arabian  deserts  worshipped  the  God  of  Abraham  ; 
yet  the  religious  faith  and  customs  of  the  larger 
number  of  them  were  very  different,  though  their 
habits  of  life  were  in  many  respects  the  same.  In 
early  times,  people  of  influence  from  among  the 
"  Scriptural  People,"  the  *'  People  of  the  Book,"  as 
the  Jews  were  called  by  the  Arabians,  had  left  their 
homes  in  Palestine  to  find  new  ones  in  the  city  of 
Yathrib,  the  Medina  of  after-times.  In  the  sixth 
century  of  our  era,  a  whole  tribe  living  in  the  far 
south  of  Arabia  had  been  led  to  give  its  allegiance  to 
the  faith  of  the  children  of  Israel,  and,  according  to 
their  strange  traditions,  the  people  of  the  deserts  be- 
tween that  region  and  Palestine  had  seen  a  sight,  a 
thousand  years  before  Christ,  the  story  of  which  im- 
pressed the  People  of  the  Book  very  deeply  upon 
the  Arabians  all  along  the  shores  of  the  Red  Sea. 

The  land  of  the  Saracens  lies  four  square,  and  com- 
prises a  territory  about  eight  times  as  large  as  the 
islands  of  Great  Britain.  On  its  western  coast  roll 
the  waters  of  the  Red  Sea;  to  the  South  is  the  In- 
dian Ocean,  which  sweeps  also  along  the  western 
coasts  of  India  and  distant  Australia  ;  on  the  east  are 
the  Persian  Gulf,   the   Euphrates,    and    the  Tigris; 


THE    CAMEL    GOES  FROM  WADY    TO    WADY.       7 

while  on  the  north  is  a  broad  belt,  over  which  the 
wild  sands  whirl  and  drive  eternally.  The  outside  bor- 
der of  this  great  territory  is  the  only  portion  which, 
so  far  as  we  certainly  know,  is  generally  inhabited. 
Towards  the  middle  country  the  land  rises,  and  there 
vast  table-lands  and  lofty  mountains  frown  upon  all 
attempts  at  colonization."^  In  a  riverless  land,  water 
is  scarce,  and  wherever  a  spring  rises  to  the  surface 
to  refresh  the  parched  earth  the  inhabitant  rejoices 
and  pitches  his  tent  with  thankfulness.  In  imitation 
of  the  Greeks,  we  call  such  a  green  spot  an  oasis,  but 
it  is  better  named  a  wady,  which  is,  in  the  mind  of 
an  Arab,  a  place  watered  by  a  river  or  a  spring  that 
is  likely  at  any  time  to  sink  from  sight. 

In  our  day  commerce  finds  that  broad  continents 
are  not  so  favorable  for  the  transportation  of  mer- 
chandise as  boisterous  oceans  ;  but  it  was  not  always 
so,  and  in  the  early  days,  when  ships  were  small  and 
compasses  were  not  known,  goods  were  sent  from 
country  to  country  across  the  deserts.  In  the  land 
of  the  Saracens  they  were  carried  from  wady  to 
wady,  the  merchants  finding  grass  for  their  beasts 
and  shade  for  themselves  at  those  green  spots  that 
were  watered  by  springs  or  brooks.  The  unwieldy 
camel  was  the  beast  upon  which  the  burdens  were 
carried,  and  it  was  able  to  plod  over  the  sands  with 
its  freight  at  the  rate  of  some  sixteen  miles  a  day. 
Patiently  it  bore  its  rider  in  the  face  of  the  pitiless 

*  The  table-lands  lying  between  Yemen  on  the  south,  Hejaz  on  the 
west,  and  Irak  on  the  northeast,  are  known  as  Nejd.  According  to 
Palgrave,  the  name  signifies  "highlands."  See  "A  Pilgrimage  to 
Nejd,"  by  Lady  Anne  Blunt,  pp.  xviii.-xxvii.  Hejaz  is  the  region 
about  Mecca  and  Medina. 


8  HOW   THE   STORY  BEGINS. 

simoon,  and  under  the  heat  of  the  burning  sun, 
enabhng  him  to  traverse  vast  stretches  of  territory, 
and  to  exchange  the  myrrh,  frankincense,  gold,  and 
precious  stones  of  Saba  and  Ophir  ^  for  the  purple 
of  Tyre  and  the  sword-blades  of  Damascus.  The 
long  lines  of  camels  and  horses  would  sometimes 
journey  from  the  shores  of  the  Indian  Ocean  to  the 
eastward,  skirting  the  Persian  Gulf,  and  would  bring 
their  weary  march  to  an  end  on  the  banks  of  the 
Tigris.  On  other  occasions  they  would  start  to  the 
north,  and,  halting  from  day  to  day  in  a  succession  of 
convenient  wadies  by  the  side  of  the  Red  Sea,  they 
would  make  the  acquaintance  of  a  different  sort  of 
Semitic  civilization  from  their  own  in  the  borders  of 
Palestine.  By  this  route  they  would  pass  very  near 
to  wondrous  Petra,  and  to  Mount  Hor,  on  the  top 
of  which  Aaron,  brother  of  Moses,  breathed  his  last. 
Yemen  was  the  name  of  the  southern  portion  of 
Arabia,  but  the  Greeks  called  it  Happy  Arabia,  on 
account  of  the  fertility.  Saba  was  the  name  of  a 
city  there  of  great  importance  in  early  times.  In 
that  region  Joktan,  the  mythical  great-grandson  of 
Noah's  son  Shem,  became  father  of  a  people  living 
in  rich  and  populous  cities  of  commercial  importance. 
A  thousand  years  before  Christ  the  rich  King  Solo- 
mon was  reigning  at  Jerusalem,  and  wondrous  were 
the  stories  told  about  him, — stories  that  travellers 
slowly  carried  along  the  shores  of  the  Red  Sea,  so 
tradition  asserts,  until  they  got  quite  down  to  the 
Indian  Ocean,  where  they  reached  the  ears  of  Balkis, 

*  It  is  not  necessary  to  enter  upon  the  vexed  question  of  the  geo- 
graphical  position  of  Ophir  ;  it  may  have  been  in  Arabia. 


lO  HO  IV   THE   STORY  BEGINS. 

the  queen  in  Saba.*  Her  people  were  Sabeans; 
they  stood  on  their  rich  wadies  and  on  their  lonely 
sands,  and  gazed  up  to  heaven  in  wonder,  as  the 
stars,  the  sun,  and  the  moon  shone  out  upon  them, 
and  they  thought  that  such  bright  lights  must  be 
gods.  Then  they  bowed  their  heads  and  worshipped 
the  hosts  of  heaven. 

The  queen  of  Saba  (we  still  follow  tradition)  medi- 
tated upon  the  wonders  that  travellers  told  of  the 
great  northern  king,  and  in  spite  of  the  threescore 
and  more  of  stages  that  the  camels  would  have  to 
make  before  reaching  that  far-off  land,  she  determined 
to  go  herself  and  see  and  hear  what  Solomon  could 
do  and  say.  It  was  no  small  labor  to  prepare  for 
such  a  journey.  It  would  take  but  a  few  days  to 
accomplish  the  distance  in  our  country,  but  there 
and  at  that  time  circumstances  were  different.  The 
queen  was  going  to  visit  a  powerful  potentate  ;  the 
richest,  the  wisest  of  whom  she  had  ever  heard  ;  a 
king  so  great,  indeed,  that  even  her  wildest  Arabian 

*  The  capital  of  Yemen,  the  seat  of  the  Himyaritic  dynasty  to 
which  the  queen  of  Saba  is  said  to  have  belonged,  was  Mareb,  two 
days'  journey  northeast  of  a  city  called  Sana,  and  great  numbers  of 
finely  cut  stones,  inscriptions,  coins,  and  jewels  still  give  evidence 
that  a  city  of  importance  once  stood  there.  Balkis  is  represented  to 
have  been  descended  from  one  Afrikis,  who,  according  to  tradition, 
gathered  the  remnants  of  the  Amalekites  after  Joshua  overthrew  that 
people,  and  led  them  to  the  other  side  of  the  Red  Sea,  where  they 
multiplied  and  were  known  from  their  barbarous  dialect  as  Berbers. 
Magreb  (western),  the  country  in  which  legend  makes  this  mixed 
people  to  have  settled,  may  be  said  to  have  extended  from  the  Red 
Sea  to  the  Atlantic.  See  Caussin  de  Perceval,  "  Essai  stir  V Histoire 
des  Arabes"  vol.  i.,  pp.  67,  "J^-TI,  etc.  De  Slane's  "  Histoire  des 
Berberes"  vol.  i.,  pp.  168,  186. 


CAMEL  RIDERS  OF  THE    DESERT. 


12  HOW    THE    STORY  BEGINS. 

imagination  could  not  depict  his  glories.  She  could 
not  take  a  camel  and  start  off  alone  ;  she  would  be 
obliged  to  take  many  camels,  and  scores  of  men,  be- 
sides numbers  of  women  to  attend  upon  her,  and  she 
was  obliged  also,  according  to  the  customs  of  her 
country,  to  take  rich  presents  to  offer  to  the  great 
king. 

Let  us  imagine  her  starting  from  the  city  of  the 
sons  of  Joktan  with  her  long  train  of  camels  and 
their  drivers  ;  with  their  tents  for  covering  by  night 
as  she  encamped  in  the  wadies  by  the  way,  and  with 
her  precious  gifts.  Day  after  day  we  follow  her,  and 
night  after  night  we  see  her  resting  beneath  the  clear 
and  cloudless  sky  of  that  wondrous  land.  A  week 
passes,  and  she  has  but  begun  her  tedious  journey; 
still  the  train  pushes  forwards.  Another  week  passes 
and  another  and  another ;  seventy  days  and  more 
she  holds  persistently  to  her  purpose.  She  had 
travelled  as  long  as  Columbus  took  to  cross  the  broad 
Atlantic. 

At  last  the  gilded  turrets  of  the  temple  come  in 
sight,  and  in  time  the  curious  queen  is  in  the 
presence  of  the  wise  king.  She  connects  his  name 
with  a  knowledge  of  the  great  Jehovah,  and  she 
brings  hard  questions  for  him  to  answer,  such,  per- 
haps, we  imagine,  as  those  which  Job  and  his  friends 
discussed  in  their  truly  Arabian  manner.  Probably 
she  asked  him  to  solve  riddles,  for  her  people  loved 
such  sportive  queries  ;  but  surely  she  had  besides 
more  serious  matters  about  which  to  speak,  for  she 
talked  "  of  all  that  was  in  her  heart ";  and  she 
listened  in  admiration  to  Solomon's  words,  confessing 


MARVELS  IN    THE    LAND    OF  JOKTAN.         1 3 

that  in  spite  of  the  exaggerations  of  travellers,  the 
half  of  what  she  saw  and  heard  had  not  been  carried 
to  her  far-away  land.^ 

No  wonder  that  stories  of  Solomon  increased  in 
number  and  in  marvellousness  in  the  land  of  Joktan's 
sons  ;  no  wonder  that  he  was  there  said  to  wear  a 
ring  by  means  of  which  he  could  get  any  information 
that  he  wanted  ;  no  wonder  that  it  was  believed  that 
his  temple  was  the  foundation  of  all  architectural 
knowledge,  and  that  he  was  himself  thought  to  effect 
his  wonders  through  the  agency  of  the  jinns,  or  genii, 
inhabitants  of  the  mountain  of  Kaf  in  Jinnestan  or 
fairyland,  over  which  he  was  said  to  have  had  com- 
plete sway.  No  wonder  that  the  people  of  Arabia, 
from  Saba  to  the  northern  deserts,  naturally  looked 
upon  Palestine  as  a  land  of  a  civilization  far  beyond 
theirs,  and  willingly  received  legends  and  religious 
inspiration  from  its  people. 

*  An  account  of  this  legendary  visit  of  the  queen  of  Sheba  to  Solo- 
mon is  to  be  found  in  the  Koran,  the  Arabian  Bible  (Sura  xxvii.). 
The  word  Koran  means  "  reading,"  and  a  sura  is  a  chapter,  a  con- 
tinuous portion,  like  a  brick  in  its  course  in  a  wall. 


II. 

CREATURES    OF    FIRE,    LIGHT,    AND    CLAY. 

The  Arabs  were  an  imaginative  people  ;  they  lived 
in  a  wonderful  land,  and  they  found  something  strange 
wherever  they  looked  ;  were  it  into  the  clear  blue  of 
the  starlit  heaven,  or  over  the  desert,  often  start- 
lingly  illuminated  by  the  marvellous  mirage  ;  they 
saw  a  fairy,  a  ghost,  a  goblin,  a  spook,  a  genius  of 
some  sort  in  the  rock  and  the  flower,  in  the  tree  and 
the  stream, — everywhere  they  felt  that  supernatural 
agents  were  above  and  around  them.  Out  of  this 
nature  grew  up  in  process  of  time  a  mythology, — out 
of  the  nature  of  this  active,  meditative,  enthusiastic, 
deep-hearted  people,  these  Frenchmen  of  the  East. 
At  what  times  it  was  put  into  the  form  in  which  it 
appears  to  us,  and  how  much  of  it  was  known  in  the 
earliest  days,  we  are  not  able  to  determine.  One  of 
the  most  thorough  students  says,^  that  we  can  but 
guess  at  the  state  of  the  Arabian  belief  in  those 
days,  but  that  "  from  what  broken  light  is  shed  by  a 
few  forlorn  rays,  we  may  conclude  this,  that  they 
worshipped,  to  use  that  vague  word,  the  Hosts  of 
Heaven";  that  others  seemed  to  have  ascribed 
every  thing  to   nature,  and  that    some  worshipped 

*  Emanuel  Deutsch,  in  the  London  Quarterly  Review,  Oct.,  i86g. 

14 


FROM  KAF   TO  KAF.  1 5 

stones  and  other  fetiches ;  while  the  Phantoms  of 
the  Desert,  the  Fata  Morgana,  angels  and  demons 
and  the  rest  of  embodied  ideas  or  ideals,  formed 
other  objects  of  pious  consideration. 

Two  thousand  years  before  Adam  was  created, 
according  to  the  stories  of  the  myth-makers  of  this 
people,  Allah  made  a  different  order  of  beings  from 
man.  They  were  known  as  jinns;  and  were  not 
formed  of  clay,  but  of  pure  fire  unmixed  with  smoke. 
They  moved  from  place  to  place  without  being  seen  ; 
they  loved  and  married  ;  they  had  children  and  they 
died,  just  as  the  creatures  of  clay  did  and  still  do. 
Some  of  them  were  good  and  some  bad  ;  and  they 
were  divided  into  classes  in  respect  to  other  traits. 
Some  of  them  haunted  ruins,  and  markets  and 
cross-roads  ;  some  dwelt  in  rivers  and  oceans ;  and 
some  were  found  in  baths  and  wells ;  but  their 
chief  resort  was  a  mysterious  mountain  named 
Kaf,  which,  in  the  imagination  of  the  Arabs, 
was  founded  upon  an  immense  emerald  and  en- 
circled the  world,  so  that  indeed  the  sun  rose  and 
went  down  behind  it.  When  they  wished  to  speak 
of  the  entire  earth,  they  said  "■  from  Kaf  to  Kaf." 
It  was  this  emerald,  they  thought,  which  gave 
its  azure  tint  to  the  sun's  rays  ;  it  surrounded  the 
earth  as  a  ring  surrounds  a  finger,  and,  in  some  way 
that  we  do  not  understand,  it  was  connected  with 
the  earthquakes  which,  in  accordance  with  the  orders 
of  Allah,  shook  Arabia. 

All  the  jinns  were  once  good,  and  had  their  laws, 
prophets,  religion,  and  regular  government  ;  but  long 
before  the  time  of  Adam,  they  became  uneasy  under 


1 6         CREA  TURES  OF  FIRE,  LIGHT,  AND  CLA  V. 

a  monotonous  and  regular  life,  and  tried  to  over, 
turn  the  original  condition  of  things.  They  rebelled 
against  the  prophets,  who,  we  must  remember,  were 
not  persons  who  foretold  future  events,  but,  like 
those  of  their  neighbors,  the  Jews,  were  preachers, 
and  expounders  of  the  will  of  heaven.  Allah  sent 
against  them  legions  of  creatures  who  were  still  more 
spiritual  than  they,  angels,  who  had  been  created  not 
from  clay,  not  even  from  smokeless  fire,  but  from 
pure  light.  Was  it  not  a  bright  thought  of  some  one 
in  those  early  ages,  that  of  peopling  space  with  such 
creatures  as  these,  made  of  fire  and  light  ? 

Well,  the  angels  went  forth  and  made  consterna- 
tion among  the  jinns,  scattering  them  to  the  islands 
and  mountains,  and  to  all  sorts  of  out-of-the-way 
places,  but  also  capturing  many  of  them.  The  evil 
jinns  were  known  by  several  names,  one  of  which 
was  Ifreet  or  Efreet.  Some  accounts  says  that  one 
of  those  that  the  angels  frightened  became  an  angel 
himself,  and  was  named  Azazil,  or  Iblis;  but  no  one 
knows  what  the  original  belief  was,  and  it  is  well 
enough  for  us  to  think  of  Iblis  as  at  first  an  angel  who 
rebelled  against  Allah,  at  the  time  of  the  creation  of 
Adam,  and  became  an  evil  demon  corresponding 
with  our  idea  of  Satan.  Like  Satan,  he  was  proud 
in  his  first  estate,  and  was  called  the  Peacock  of  the 
angels. 

When  an  Arabian  whirlwind  was  seen  carrying 
sand  and  dust  over  field  and  desert,  it  was  said  that 
some  evil  jinn  was  riding  forth  with  sinister  intent, 
and  the  beholder  was  wont  to  cry  out  :  *'  Iron  !  Iron  ! 
thou  unlucky  !  "for  the  jinns  were  cowed  by  the  fear 


ANGELS  AND  ARCHANGELS.  1 7 

of  iron  ;  or  they  exclaimed  :  "  Allah  is  most  great !  " 
as  if  thinking  that  Allah,  thus  complimented,  would 
protect  them  from  the  threatened  harm.  So  when 
they  ventured  to  sea  in  their  little  boats,  and  saw  a 
waterspout,  they  thought  that  a  jinn  was  abroad, 
against  whom  they  needed  protection. 

The  angels  were  deemed  quite  different  from 
jinns ;  they  never  disobey  Allah,  nor  are  they 
troubled  by  the  bad  passions  that  stir  jinns,  and,  it 
must  be  confessed,  stir  men,  also  ;  some  did  join  in 
the  rebellion  against  Allah,  but  since  that  time  all 
find  their  food  in  celebrating  his  glory,  their  drink 
in  proclaiming  his  holiness,  and  their  pleasure  in  his 
worship.  They  were  supposed  to  have  different 
forms ;  but  as  they  are  made  of  pure  light,  it  would 
of  course,  take  sharper  eyes  than  those  of  the  creat- 
ures of  clay  to  tell  what  their  beautiful  shapes  are. 
Four  are  archangels  :  Gabriel,  the  faithful  spirit,  who 
reveals  the  will  of  Allah ;  Michael,  guardian  of  the 
Jews;  Azrael,  the  angel  of  death;  and  Israfil,  the 
angel  of  the  trumpet,  who  is  at  the  end  of  the  world 
to  blow  a  blast  which  will  kill  all  creatures,  and 
another  which  will  raise  them  all  for  judgment. 

One  angel  was  supposed  to  stand  ever  at  the  right 
side  of  each  man  to  record  his  good  deeds,  and  an- 
other at  his  left  to  write  down  his  evil  acts.  At 
every  man's  death  Nakir  and  Munkir,  two  of  the 
creatures  of  light,  examine  him  in  his  grave  concern- 
ing his  faith.  If  he  acknowledge  Allah  to  be  the  one 
God,  they  permit  him  to  rest  in  peace,  but  otherwise 
they  pound  and  beat  him  until  he  roars  so  loudly  that 
he  is  heard,  by  all  but  men  and  jinns,  from  Kaf  to  Kaf ! 


1 8         CREA  TURKS  OF  FIRE,  LIGHT,  AND  CLA  V. 

Men  were  thought  to  be  not  entirely  at  the  mercy 
of  the  jinns,  but  were  permitted  to  command  their 
services,  and  even  to  gain  from  them  some  informa- 
tion of  future  events  through  the  medium  of  certain 
invocations  and  tahsmans.  One  would  think  that 
jinns  could  not  know  any  more  about  the  future 
than  ordinary  mortals,  but  we  are  told  that  they 
were  eavesdroppers  at  the  gates  of  heaven,  and  thus 
gained  a  great  deal  of  information  about  the  doings 
of  the  angels  and  the  plans  of  Allah.  Up  to  the  time 
of  the  birth  of  Jesus,  so  they  say,  they  were  allowed 
to  enter  any  of  the  seven  heavens,  but  after  that 
they  were  excluded  from  three  of  them,  and  after 
the  birth  of  Mohammed  they  were  forbidden  the 
other  four ;  still,  however,  as  they  go  as  near  the 
lowest  heaven  as  possible,  they  glean  a  great  deal 
that  men  cannot  learn.  When  the  Arabians  saw 
bright  shooting-stars  in  the  sky,  they  were  wont  to 
say  that  the  angels  were  driving  these  inquisitive 
jinns  from  their  positions  near  the  gates  of  the  low- 
est heaven. 

Solomon's  seal-ring  by  which  he  was  supposed  to 
control  the  jinns,  was  said  to  have  been  sent  to  him 
from  heaven.  It  was  of  iron  and  brass,  and  had 
engraven  on  it  the  name  of  Allah.  When  he  sent  a 
command  to  the  good  jinns,  he  stamped  the  letter 
with  the  brass,  and  when  the  order  was  intended  for 
the  evil  ones,  it  bore  the  imprint  of  the  iron,  for  the 
reason  that  has  been  mentioned.  By  the  power  he 
possessed  over  the  jinns  he  forced  them  to  assist  in 
building  the  temple  at  Jerusalem,  and  in  many  of  the 
other  great  works  of  his  reign.     The  marvellous  ring 


CONCEPTIONS  OF  PARADISE.  I9 

gave  him  power  also  over  winds,  over  birds,  and  even 
over  wild  beasts.  It  is  mentioned  in  the  ''Arabian 
Nights,"  in  the  tale  of  the  fisherman  and  the  jinn,  or 
genii.  It  was  truly  a  wondrous  ring.  By  it  the  rich 
owner  converted  many  evil  jinns  to  the  true  faith, 
and  confined  others  in  strong  prisons  because  they 
would  not  yield.  It  were  well  if  other  mortals  could 
have  owned  such  a  ring,  for  the  evil  jinns  worked  a 
great  many  wrongs  upon  men.  They  carried  off 
beautiful  women  ;  they  went  upon  roofs  and  threw 
bricks  and  stones  down  upon  passers-by,  they  stole 
provisions,  they  haunted  empty  houses,  some  of 
them,  called  ghouls,  ate  men  and  made  their  homes 
in  graveyards,  and  they  did  many  other  diabolical 
acts. 

Though  we  cannot  tell  at  what  time  the  different 
portions  of  this  weird  mythology  were  taken  up,  we 
know  that  the  belief  in  jinns  was  an  original  portion 
of  it,  though  it  is  equally  evident  also  that  the  heaven 
of  the  Arabian  imagination  was  a  creation  of  after- 
times.  Mohammed  conceived  Paradise  to  be  a  place 
where  all  the  enjoyments  grateful  to  dwellers  in  a 
hot  and  barren  land, — shade,  rest,  water,  fruit,  com- 
panionship, and  service, — were  perennially  furnished 
to  the  faithful.  Allah  is  the  ruler  there :  he  is  eter- 
nal and  everlasting,  without  form  or  limit,  including 
every  thing  and  included  by  nothing  ;  he  is  invoked 
under  ninety-nine  attributes  which  represent  him  as 
merciful  and  glorious,  exalted  and  righteous;  the 
guardian  and  judge,  the  creator  and  the  provider. 

Heaven  was  to  him  in  its  seven-fold  division,  the 
Garden  of  Beauty,  the  Abode  of  Peace,  the  Abode 


20         CREA  TURES  OF  FIRE,  LIGHT,  AND  CLA  Y. 

of  Rest,  the  Garden  of  Eden,  the  Garden  of  Resort, 
the  Garden  of  Pleasure,  the  Garden  of  the  Most 
High,  and  the  Garden  of  Paradise.*  Hell  was  like- 
wise divided  into  seven  parts :  Gehenna,  the  Flam- 
ing Firfe,  the  Raging  Fire  that  splits  every  thing  to 
pieces,  the  Blaze,  the  Scorching  Fire,  the  Fierce  Fire, 
and  finally  the  Abyss.  In  the  first  hell  wicked  Islam- 
ites were  confined  temporarily ;  in  the  second  are 
the  Jews ;  in  the  third  the  Christians  ;  in  the  fourth 
the  Sabeans  ;  in  the  fifth  the  Magians  ;  in  the  sixth  the 
idol-worshippers  ;  and  in  the  bottommost,  hypocrites 
who  have  falsely  professed  some  religion.  This  hell 
in  all  its  departments  was  a  place  which  men  accus- 
tomed to  the  trials  of  a  hot  country  would  consider 
an  abode  of  direst  misery. 

The  ninth  month  of  the  Arabian  year,  called 
Ramadan,  is  and  was  held  to  be  a  sort  of  Lent,  during 
the  entire  duration  of  which  it  was  a  sacred  duty  to 
fast  from  the  rising  of  the  sun  to  the  going  down  of 
the  same;  but  when  its  setting  was  announced,  all 
restrictions  were  off,  and  the  hungry  and  thirsty 
hastened  to  eat  and  drink  to  full  content.  During 
the  day  they  would  even  hold  the  hand  before  the 
mouth  should  they  chance  to  pass  in  the  street  a 
man  smoking,  lest  a  whiff  of  the  forbidden  fragrance 
should  pollute  them  ;  but  when  it  was  too  dark  to 
distinguish  a  white  thread  from  a  black,  they  might 
unrestrictedly  enjoy  their  pipes.  Some,  of  course, 
did  not  observe  this  month  with  the  religious  faith 
that  others  held,  and  some  looked  at  it  in  the  spirit 

*  The  Jewish  rabbis  likewise  taught  that  there  were  seven 
heavens, 


TltE  REST   OF   RAMADAN: 


21 


of  the  Magians,  with  whom  it  was  a  spell.  There 
were  not  lacking  those,  however,  who  sought  the 
quiet  of  spots  remote  from  the  busy  haunts  of  men, 
and  communed  with  their  thoughts  as  they  looked 
towards  the  abode  of  Allah. 


III. 

THE   TIMES   OF   IGNORANCE. 

When  Adam  fell  from  Paradise,  so  the  stories  of 
the  East  tell  us,  there  fell  also  a  pure  white  stone, 
which,  through  all  the  ages,  has  been  kept  with  re- 
ligious care,  and  worshipped  as  something  pure  and 
holy.  As  stones  do  sometimes  fall  from  the  heavens, 
it  may  well  be  that  this  one  so  fell  in  the  early  days 
when  men  knew  nothing  about  aerolites,  and  at  such 
a  period  they  would  naturally  have  given  it  rever- 
ence. We  can  trace  this  particular  stone  to  a  time 
long  before  the  birth  of  Christ ;  and  Diodorus,  the 
Sicilian,  a  writer  of  the  golden  age  of  Rome,  who 
made  it  the  business  of  his  life  to  get  accurate  infor- 
mation about  all  nations,  said  that  it  existed  in  his 
days,  was  then  most  ancient,  and  was  revered  ex- 
ceedingly by  the  whole  Arab  race. 

We  remember  that  when  Jacob  dreamed  his  won- 
derful dream,  he  set  up  a  stone  in  commemoration 
of  the  event,  on  the  top  of  which  he  poured  oil,  and 
that  he  called  the  placed  ''  Beth-El,"  or  the  House  of 
God.  The  Arabs  also  call  the  place  where  their  pre- 
cious stone  is,  the  House  of  Allah,  and  they  seem  to 
worship  the  shapeless  mass,  as  Jacob  did  not.  It 
was,  in  fact,  not  at  all  uncommon  in  the  early  times 


24  THE    TIMES  OF  IGI^ORANCE, 

for  the  Arabs  to  bow  down  to  misshapen  stones ;  but 
this  one  became  the  most  noted  and  at  last  the  only 
one  remembered.  It  did  not  remain  white,  and  is 
now  of  a  reddish-brown  color,  either  because  it  has 
wept  so  much  for  the  sins  of  the  world,  as  its  worship- 
pers aver,  or  because  it  has  been  handled  and  kissed 
for  so  many  hundred  years.  It  is  worn  and  broken, 
and  bound  together  by  silver  bands,  and  is  often  de- 
scribed as  black,  so  begrimed  has  :t  become. 

The  sacred  stone  is  embedded  in  the  walls  of  a 
building,  known  as  the  Kaaba,  or  Cube,  around 
which  a  mosque  has  been  built,  which  includes,  be- 
sides the  Kaaba,  a  well,  called  from  the  purling 
sound  of  its  gently  gurgling  waters,  Zem-zem.  It  is 
related  that  when  Hagar  was  sent  into  the  desert  by 
Father  Abraham,  she  laid  little  Ishmael  down  on  the 
sand  (though  we  think  that  he  was  a  young  man  of 
some  sixteen  years),  and  that,  as  he  threw  his  limbs 
about,  he  discovered  the  spring,  which  afterwards  af- 
forded refeshment  to  both  him  and  his  mother.  They 
say  that  Seth,  son  of  Adam,  had  built  the  Kaaba 
there,  but  that  the  deluge  had  washed  it  away.  When 
Ishmael  became  a  man,  and  had  married  a  princess 
of  the  land,  he  undertook  the  pious  work  of  rebuild- 
ing the  holy  house.  In  this  he  was  assisted  by  his 
father,  Abraham,  who  was  directed  by  the  angel  Ga- 
briel, sent  from  heaven  for  the  express  purpose.  The 
angel  discovered  the  sacred  stone,  which  had  been 
hidden  by  the  sHme  left  after  the  flood. 

The  period  to  which  all  these  remarkable  events 
are  relegated  by  the  Arabians,  they  well  call  the 
Times  of  Ignorance,  and  utterly  improbable  as  we 


COMMERCE  IN  EARLY   DAYS.  25 

may  think  them,  they  are  necessary  to  be  told  in 
connection  with  our  story.  The  Bible  records 
that  in  the  days  of  Isaac  and  Jacob  there  were 
traders  in  Palestine,  who  came  from  and  returned  to 
Arabia,  exchanging  the  productions  of  the  two  lands. 
As  we  follow  the  history  along,  we  find  that  in  the 
reign  of  Solomon  the  ''kings  of  Arabia"  and  her 
merchants  traded  still  with  Judea,  and  that  the  pro- 
phet Ezekiel,  in  his  lamentation  for  the  wealthy 
city  of  Tyre,  graphically  refers  to  the  trafifickers  from 
Dedan  and  Aden  and  Saba  as  bringing  to  that  great 
Mediterranean  seaport  rich  spices  and  precious  stones, 
bright  sword-blades  and  chests  of  costly  apparel, 
gold,  and  wrappings  of  blue  and  embroidered  work."^ 

This  was  hundreds  of  years  before  Christ ;  and  we 
learn  from  Roman  waiters  that  the  lucrative  com- 
merce was  kept  up  until  a  time  came  at  w^hich  men 
began  to  carry  on  their  trade  over  the  waters  of  the 
Red  Sea.  Then  the  ship  of  the  ocean  took  the 
place  of  the  ship  of  the  desert,  and  the  camels  were 
no  longer  needed  in  vast  numbers  for  transportation, 
nor  the  drivers  to  direct  them.  Mercantile  stations 
and  halting-places  had  been  established  along  the 
shores,  from  the  Persian  Gulf  to  the  northern  ex- 
tremity of  the  Gulf  of  Akaba,  which  were  then  de- 
serted, and  many  men  were  obliged  "to  scatter  and 
seek  occupation  in  other  places.  The  number  of 
Bedawins,  or  wanderers  over  the  deserts,  was  much 
increased. 

During  the  years  of  ignorance,  the  world  knew 
little  of  the   peninsula  of  Arabia.     In  the  reign  of 

*  Ezekiel,  xxviii.,  19-24. 


26 


THE    TIMES  OF  IGNORANCE. 


Augustus,  a  quarter  of  a  century  before  Christ,  a 
Roman  army,  under  command  of  ^lius  Gallus,  pre- 
fect of  Egypt,  had  crossed  the  Red  Sea  at  the  com- 
mand of  the  emperor,  with  the  intention  of  making 
treaties  with  the  people,  or  of  conquering  them,  if 
they  should  dare  to  oppose  Roman  progress.     For 


AN    KNCAMl'MENT    OF    ARABIAN    I'lLGKIMS. 

six  months  the  army  wandered  about  in  the  extreme 
south  of  the  country,  penetrating  as  far  as  Saba, 
under  the  direction  of  a  treacherous  guide  ;  but  the 
hot  sun  burned  them,  and  the  bad  v.^ater  made  them 
ill.  The  force  melted  away  under  the  disease  ;  yElius 
could  not  conquer  the  Arabs,  and  was  obliged  to  has- 
ten from  the  inhospitable  region  most  ingloriously, 


THE  POSlTlOiV   OF  MECCA,  ^^ 

occupying  but  sixty  days  in  his  rapid  retreat.  The 
poet  Horace  mentions  the  proverbial  opulence  of  the 
Arabians,  which  had  tempted  the  emperor  to  send 
out  this  ill-fated  expedition,  and  we  learn  from  him 
with  what  avidity  it  was  entered  upon.  Though  it 
failed  in  its  immediate  purpose,  it  resulted  in  consid- 
erable addition  to  the  world's  knowledge  of  the  land 
of  the  Saracens,  for  Gallushad  been  accompanied  by 
his  intimate  friend  Strabo,  and  when  that  writer 
found  himself  safe  in  Egypt  again,  he  gave  him  the 
information  he  had  gained,  which  we  may  still  read 
in  the  sixteenth  book  of  the  geographer's  great 
work. 

Five  hundred  years  after  this  (in  the  sixth  century 
of  our  era),  when  Christianity  had  been  introduced 
into  the  same  part  of  the  country,  the  Romans  inter- 
fered again.  From  time  immemorial  the  dynasty  of 
the  Himyarites  had  governed  both  Yemen  and  Had- 
ramawt,  the  region  to  the  east ;  but  at  this  time  a 
Jewish  usurper  had  seized  the  throne,  and  was  trying 
by  means  of  frightful  persecutions  to  turn  the  Chris- 
tians to  his  faith.  A  refugee  managed  to  find  his 
way  across  Arabia,  Syria,  and  Asia  Minor  to  the 
court  of  Justinian  at  Constantinople,  and  there  hold 
ing  up  a  half-burned  gospel,  pleaded  for  retribution. 
A  prince  of  Abyssinia  undertook  the  task,  and 
crossed  the  Red  Sea.  He  grasped  the  supreme  au- 
thority, and  ruled  for  a  while,  but  finally  his  govern- 
ment was  thrown  off,  and  Yemen  at  least  became 
tributary  to  Persia. 

The  position   of   Mecca,  which  made  the  Kaaba  a 
centre  for  the  faithful  to  congregate  about,  is  very 


28  THE    TIMES  OF  JGMOkAMCR. 

convenient,  for  it  is  midway  on  the  road  from  the 
Gulf  of  Akaba  to  Saba.  It  is  about  fifty  miles 
from  the  shores  of  the  Red  Sea,  and  some  thirty 
from  the  granite  peaks  of  Jebel  Kora.  East  of 
this  mountain  there  lies  a  smiling  country  clothed 
with  verdure  and  beautified  by  shady  trees,  while 
apples  and  figs,  pomegranates  and  peaches,  abound 
in  perfection.  The  region  about  Mecca  is,  however, 
a  great  contrast  to  this  loveliness.  There  rugged 
rocks  look  sullenly  down  upon  barren  valleys,  sandy 
and  stony,  and  the  labors  of  the  farmer  are  rewarded 
by  doubtful  crops. 

The  irregular  valley  in  which  Mecca  lies  is  about 
two  miles  in  length,  the  Kaaba  and  the  principal 
portions  of  the  city  being  in  an  amphitheatre  about 
a  half  mile  in  width,  surrounded  by  precipitous  rocks 
that  frown  upon  it  from  elevations  of  two  hundred, 
three  hundred,  and  even  five  hnndred  feet.  Such 
was  the  spot  in  which  Hagar  and  Ishmael  were 
imagined  to  have  found  a  haven  of  refuge  ;  and 
surely  it  was  a  fitting  place  for  the  cradle  of  a  race 
of  wild,  hardy,  active,  agile  men,  whose  hands  were, 
in  the  language  of  Scripture,  to  be  against  every 
man  and  every  man's  hand  against  them  ;  of  men 
who  were  to  be  strong,  and  destined  to  dwell  over 
against  their  brethren,  ever  threatening  them. 

At  some  time,  probably  long  before  history  records 
any  thing  of  it,  a  tide  of  pilgrimage  turned  towards 
this  forbidding  valley,  and  the  western-central  region 
of  Arabia  came  to  be  called  Hejaz,  the  land  of  pilgrim- 
ages. Commerce  had  to  a  great  extent  deserted  its 
ancient  route  down  the  shores  of  the  Red  Sea,  but 


30  THE    TIMES   OF  IGNORANCE. 

feticism  still  poured  its  thousands  of  devotees  into 
this  valley.  They  thronged  especially  about  the 
"  Mountain  of  Mercy,"  Arafat,  which  is  a  slight 
elevation  rising  but  two  hundred  feet  above  the 
plain  on  which  it  stands,  on  the  sacred  summit  of 
which  it  was  said  that  Adam  had  built  a  house 
of  worship,  and  had  been  taught  by  the  angel  Gabriel 
how  to  pray. 

These  vast  numbers  brought  much  money  to  the 
place,  and  schemers  saw  that  the  control  of  their 
supplies  would  give  power  and  fortune  to  whoever 
should  obtain  it.  The  so-called  descendants  of  Ish- 
mael  asserted  that  it  was  their  privilege,  and  for 
a  time  they  actually  held  it  ;  but  envious  neighbors 
deprived  them  of  their  birthright,  and  held  it  until 
one  Kossai  arose  with  ambition  and  force  enough  to 
claim,  and  at  last  to  concentrate  in  his  person,  the 
attributes  of  chief  of  the  city.  He  was  descended 
from  Fihr,  surnamed  the  Koreish,  or  trafificker, 
whose  pedigree  has  been  carefully  traced,  but  of 
whom  little  is  known  except  that  he  was  powerful. 
Kossai  brought  many  of  his  kindred  into  the  valley 
about  the  year  440  A.D.;  built  a  palace,  and  a  house 
for  the  transaction  of  important  business  ;  directed 
the  coming  and  going  of  the  caravans ;  held  the 
keys  of  Kaaba  ;  monopolized  the  supplies  of  bread 
for  the  pilgrims ;  and  controlled  the  refreshing 
waters  of  Zem-zem, — in  short,  he  made  a  city  of 
Mecca  and  firmly  ruled  it."^ 

*  The  business  of  conveying  the  thousands  of  pilgrims  who  still 
go  to  Mecca  (from  India,  at  least)  has  just  been  placed  in  the  hands 
of  the  tourists,  Cook  and  Sons,  who,  by  contract  with  the  British  gov- 
ernment, carry  them  in  well-appointed  steamships. 


PERFORMING    THE   PILGRIMAGE.  3 1 

Kossai  grasped  at  once  all  civil,  political,  and  re- 
ligious authority,  gave  circumstance  to  the  duties 
and  ceremonies  required  of  the  pilgrim  ;  and  the 
willing  and  superstitious  Arabs  hesitated  not  to  follow 
his  commands.  When  they  came  in  after-times  to 
perform  the  pilgrimage,  they  put  on  a  dress  known 
as  the  ihram,  dutifully  visited  the  Kaaba,  and  kissed 
the  sacred  black  stone  ;  they  performed  the  tawaf, 
by  walking  seven  times  around  the  building,  three 
times  impetuously  and  four  times  at  an  easy  pace  ; 
seven  times  thry  ran  up  the  hills  Safa  and  Marwa 
and  down  again  ;  of  an  early  morning  they  rushed 
tumultuously  to  the  summit  of  the  mount  Arafat, 
and  hastened  back  again  ;  they  threw  stones  at  three 
pillars,  in  mystic  memory  of  Abraham,  or,  perhaps, 
of  Adam,  who  met  Iblis  there,  and  in  like  manner 
drove  him  away  ;  they  sacrificed  some  animal  and 
then  took  off  the  ihram  and  rested  three  days,  after 
which  they  repeated  the  seven  circuits  of  the  Kaaba, 
and  were  at  liberty  to  turn  their  faces  homewards 
and  return  to  the  usual  duties  of  life,  ever  after- 
wards honored  with  the  title  Haj,  or  pilgrim.  The 
offerings  made  by  the  devotees  were  in  memory  of  the 
sacrifice  of  Ishmael  that  Abraham  intended  to  make, 
for  they  put  their  ancestor  in  the  place  of  Isaac. 
What  the  duties  of  pilgrims  were  at  first  we  cannot 
tell,  nor  do  we  know  the  names  of  the  idols  that  were 
worshipped  in  the  Kaaba,  though  there  were  in  early 
times  over  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  of  them  in 
the  pantheon. 

The  honors  and  privileges  of  chief  at  Mecca  were 
not  enjoyed  in  peace  by  the  descendants  of  Kossai, 


32  THE    TIMES  OF  IGNORANCE. 

and  many  struggles  are  recorded  among  them,  In 
time  there  arose  in  the  regular  line  one  Abd  Menaf, 
who  was  strong  enough  to  obtain  and  convey  to  his 
son  Hashim  the  hereditary  right  of  entertaining  the 
pilgrims.  Omia,  a  nephew  of  Hashim,  proved  a  de- 
termined opponent,  and  the  enmity  was  bequeathed 
to  their  sons,  so  that  the  struggles  between  the 
Hashimites  and  the  Omiades  became  historic  and 
bloody.  Once  the  holy  well  was,  strangely  enough, 
covered  up  and  forgotten,  until  Abd  al  Muttalib,  son 
of  Hashim,  miraculously  uncovered  it,  whereupon 
he  immediately  increased  in  dignity  and  fame  and 
continued  to  be  honored  until  his  death. 

In  an  hour  of  weakness  Abd  al  Muttalib  had  once 
vowed  that  if  he  should  ever  be  so  greatly  blessed  as 
to  have  ten  sons,  one  should  certainly  be  devoted  to 
Allah.  In  process  of  time  the  number  was  fulfilled, 
and  the  sorrowing  father  rel-uctantly  gathered  his  off- 
spring in  the  Kaaba  and  cast  lots  for  the  one  to  be 
sacrificed.  The  lot  fell  upon  Abdalla,  the  beautiful 
son  of  his  old  age,  and  the  sacrificial  knife  was  sol- 
emnly prepared.  Then  the  sisters  of  Abdalla  rose 
up  and  besought  their  father  to  cast  lots  between 
their  brother  and  ten  camels — in  those  days  consid- 
ered the  proper  fine  for  the  blood  of  a  man.  Abd 
al  Muttalib  consented,  and  lo !  the  lot  a  second  time 
fell  upon  the  beloved  son.  Again  resort  was  made 
to  the  lot — the  number  of  beasts  being  doubled ; 
but  still  it  fell  upon  the  son.  Time  after  time  the 
trial  was  made,  at  the  urgent  appeal  of  the  sorrow- 
ing sisters,  until  one  hundred  camels  had  been  prof- 
fered, when  to  their  joy  the  lot  fell  upon  the  beasts; 


ABDALLA'S  LIFE   SAVED,  33 

Abdalla  was  spared,  and  the  inhabitants  of  Mecca 
feasted  upon  the  carcasses  that  had  been  forfeited."^ 
Before  the  days  of  Kossai  there  had  been  no  real 
government  in  Arabia ;  every  man  did  that  which 
was  right  in  his  own  eyes,  acknowledging  but  indefi- 
nite allegiance  to  his  own  tribe  ;  and  even  now  gov- 
ernment depended  upon  force,  and  was  liable  at  any 
time  to  be  overthrown.  Such  was  the  condition  of 
affairs  as  the  years  of  ignorance  approached  their 
end  ;  at  the  time  when  the  outer  world  was  destined 
to  interfere  in  the  affairs  of  the  peninsula  and  an 
Eastern  miracle  was  to  be  seen. 

*  The  price  of  the  blood  of  a  man  after  this  time  was  one  hundred 
camels — a  number  which  the  great  prophet  of  the  people  confirmed. 


IV. 


THE   YEAR   OF   THE   ELEPHANT. 

During  the  life  of  Abd  al  Muttalib  there  ruled  in 
Vemen  a  powerful  viceroy  of  the  Prince  of  Abys- 
sinia, whose  name  was  Abraha.  He  had  his  capital 
at  Sana,  to  which  city  he  had  brought  the  commerce 
of  Persia  and  of  his  own  country,  and  had  established 
in  it  a  power  that  has  not  yet  faded  away,  for  Sana 
is  said  to  possess  even  now  many  attractive  build- 
ings, gardens,  fountains,  and  palaces,  and  to  be  still 
the  centre  of  a  considerable  trade.  Representing  a 
Christian  prince,  Abraha  had  erected  a  temple  of 
some  magnificence,  which  he  hoped  would  draw 
worshippers  away  from  the  Kaaba,  but  in  this  he 
was  disappointed,  and  his  Christianity  did  not 
prove  powerful  enough  to  keep  his  angry  passions 
from  rising  as  he  contemplated  his  failure.  He  de- 
termined to  accomplish  by  force  that  which  he  had 
failed  to  bring  to  pass  by  persuasion.  In  his  wrath 
he  gathered  an  army  with  which  he  purposed  to  at- 
tack Mecca,  marched  towards  that  place  with  ban- 
ners flying,  and  easily  thrust  aside  the  opposition 
made  to  his  progress  by  the  unorganized  tribes  that 
he  found  in  the  first  portion  of  his  route. 

As  he  pushed  onward  his  hot  anger  boiled  in  him 
34 


ABRAHA   FORGES  ALONG.  35 

as  the  difificulties  of  the  way  increased  day  after  day. 
Sana  Is  said  to  be  about  fifteen  days'  journey  from 
Mocha  and  Aden,  and  if  this  be  true,  it  must  be  not 
less  than  forty  days'  journey  from  Mecca.*  Three 
days'  march  from  the  Holy  City  lies  the  town  of 
Taif  (pronounced  Ta-eef,)  now  considered  almost  as 
sacred  as  the  Mother  of  Cities  herself.  At  that  time, 
for  some  reason,  the  men  of  Taif  did  not  care  to 
claim  any  interest  in  Mecca,  and  said  as  much  to 
Abraha.  They  even  went  so  far  as  to  offer  him  a 
guide  through  the  desert  to  the  place  that  he  sought 
to  destroy, — not  a  very  neighborly  act.  Ages  have 
passed  since  that  memorable  march,  but  the  perfidy 
of  the  traitorous  guide  is  not  forgotten.  For  centu- 
ries passers-by  Vv^ere  accustomed  to  cast  stones  upon 
his  tomb,  for  he  suddenly  died  by  the  way,  and  did 
not  live  long  enough  after  making  his  offer  to  com- 
plete the  march  of  three  days.  An  angry  man  is  not 
easily  stopped,  however,  and  Abraha  forged  along, 
sending  out  troops  in  advance,  who  were  ordered  to 
take  what  cattle  could  be  obtained,  and  probably  to 
spread  among  the  scattered  people  whom  they  met 
stories  of  the  prowess  of  the  viceroy.  They  told  of 
his  strong  army,  of  the  riches  of  the  city  of  Sana,  and 
above  all,  we  may  be  sure,  they  described  a  huge  ele- 
phant that  he  had  in  his  train — an  animal  that  was 
quite  new  to  the  Arabians  and  very  frightful.  Two 
hundred  camels  of  Abd  al  Muttalib  were  swept  away 
by  this  raid  of  Abraha's  advance  guard. 

Before  reaching  Mecca  the  viceroy  sent  messen- 

*  Abulfeda,  an  Arabian  geographer  of  the  thirteenth  century,  would 
make  the  distance  but  thirty  days'  journey. 


36  THE    YEAR    OF    THE    ELEPHANT. 

gers  to  the  city,  who  said,  in  the  flowery  language  of 
the  East  :  "  Abraha,  viceroy  of  the  king  of  Abys- 
sinia, desires  not  to  injure  you,  O  ye  men  of  the 
Holy  City  ;  he  wishes  but  to  destroy  the  Kaaba, 
which  in  his  eyes  is  a  polluted  house,  the  home  of 
idols,  the  shrine  of  a  false  religion.  This  done,  he 
will  retire  without  shedding  the  blood  of  any  among 
you."  It  may  well  be  imagined  that  a  message  like 
this  did  not  accomplish  its  purpose,  for  there  was  no 
object  so  much  venerated  and  so  carefully  guarded 
by  the  inhabitants  of  Mecca  as  their  sacred  building. 
They  were  ready  to  sacrifice  life  and  every  thing 
they  possessed  for  its  preservation,  and  though  they 
had  before  thought  that  any  effort  to  oppose  so 
powerful  an  enemy  would  be  fruitless,  they  were 
now  stimulated  to  put  forth  their  utmost  strength 
in  its  behalf.  They  conveyed  their  decision  to 
Abraha  by  an  embassy,  and  Abd  al  Muttalib  himself 
went  to  the  enemy's  camp  to  emphasize  the  mes- 
sage. Abraha  endeavored  by  all  means  in  his  power 
to  induce  the  guardians  of  the  sacred  building  to 
betray  their  trust.  He  returned  the  stolen  camels  of 
Abd  al  Muttalib  ;  he  offered  him  riches  ;  but  all  in 
vain ;  the  negotiations  were  broken  off.  Abraha 
was  proudly  informed  that  the  Kaaba  was  under  the 
care  of  Allah  ;  and  then  the  men  of  Mecca,  almost 
in  despair,  returned  to  their  homes,  leaving  him  to 
act  as  he  thought  best. 

The  host  of  the  elephant,  as  it  was  called,  was 
deemed  invincible,  however,  and  after  a  while  the 
Meccans  losing  hope  of  being  able  to  resist  it,  sor- 
rowfully decided  to  retreat  to  the  surrounding  hills. 


AN  EASTERN  MIRACLE.  3/ 

When  this  determination  had  been  reached,  Abd  al 
Muttahb  took  hold  of  the  ring  of  the  door  of  the 
sacred  house  and  prayed  aloud  :  ''  Defend,  O  Allah, 
thine  own  house,  for  thy  servants  are  too  feeble  to 
oppose  violence  with  force ;  suffer  not  the  cross  to 
triumph  over  the  Kaaba  !  "  After  these  words  he 
retreated  with  the  other  citizens  to  the  hills,  and 
calmly  awaited  the  result.  To  the  surprise  of  the 
whole  population  they  saw  the  invading  army  begin 
to  beat  a  retreat !  The  huge  elephant  had  refused 
to  advance  upon  the  city;  and  besides,  the  invaders 
had  been  suddenly  attacked  by  an  irresistible  foe. 
A  pestilence  had  broken  out  in  their  ranks,  and  in 
fear  of  death,  they  hastened  to  get  away  from  a  spot 
that  seemed  to  them  the  abode  of  death.  Soon 
after  they  started  they  were  abandoned  by  their 
guides,  and  many  died  in  the  way  in  the  intricacies  of 
the  wadies.  Many  others  were  swept  away  by  a  flood 
that  seemed  to  be  sent  upon  them  by  the  wrath  of 
Allah,  and  Abraha  himself,  stricken  by  the  foul  disease, 
only  reached  Sana  to  find  in  it  a  grave.  The  men  of 
Mecca  gave  thanks  that  they  had  been  delivered,  and 
still  the  Moslem  mosques  reverberate  with  the  sound 
of  the  voice  of  the  Islamite  priests,  as  they  cry: 

"  In  the  name  of  Allah  the  merciful  and  compas- 
sionate !  Hast  thou  not  seen  what  Allah  did  with 
the  fellows  of  the  elephant  }  Did  he  not  make  their 
stratagem  lead  them  astray,  and  send  down  on  them 
birds  in  flocks  to  cast  upon  them  stones  of  baked  clay, 
and  make  them  like  munched  stalks  of  grain  ?  "  * 

*  It  is  supposed  that  the  disease  which  attacked  the  host  of  Abraha 
was  the  small-pox,  the  hard  pustules  of  which  are,  by  a  violent  meta- 


38  THE    YEAR    OF    THE   ELEPHANT. 

For  twelve  hundred  years  these  words  have  been 
constantly  repeated,  and  the  faithful  thus  reminded 
of  the  time  when  Allah  was  implored  by  Abd  al 
Muttalib  to  interpose  for  the  preservation  of  the 
Kaaba.  The  event  gave  greater  stability  to  the 
power  of  the  descendants  of  Abd  Menaf,  while  it 
deepened  the  strife  between  the  Omiades  and  the 
Hashimites. 

Another  event  of  the  Year  of  the  Elephant  marks 
it  still  more  strongly,  and  but  for  it  the  Story  of  the 
Saracens  had  never  been  told.  The  year  previous, 
the  young  and  beautiful  Abdalla,  whose  name  means 
"■  Servant  of  Allah,"  had  espoused  a  charming  maiden 
descended  from  a  brother  of  the  famous  Kossai, 
Amina  by  name.  So  lovely  was  the  son  of  Abd  al 
Muttalib,  and  so  beautiful,  that  the  old  story-tellers 
affirm  that  when  he  married  Amina  two  hundred 
fair  maidens  of  Mecca  died  of  sorrow  that  he  had 
not  married  them  !  He  was,  it  is  a  pleasure  to  add, 
as  good  as  he  was  handsome.  Not  long  after  his 
wedding  he  was  called  to  go  on  business  to  Gaza,  in 
Southern  Syria,  the  strong  city  of  the  Philistines, 
from  which  Samson  carried  away  the  gates  and  tow- 
ards which  the  minister  of  Candace,  Queen  of 
Ethiopia,  journeyed  after  his  visit  to  Jerusalem,  as 

phor,  likened  to  small  stones  which  birds  cast  down  under  direction 
of  Allah. — The  Koran,  sura  xciv.  (In  making  extracts  from  the 
Koran  the  author  has  not  confined  himself  to  any  single  version,  but 
has  endeavored  to  take  that  one  in  each  instance  which  seemed  to 
give  the  sense  in  the  most  appropriate  English.  The  versions  of 
Palmer,  Rodwell,  Kazimirski,  Sale,  and  others  have  been  constantly 
consulted,  and  all  the  extracts  have  been  carefully  compared  with  the 
Arabic.) 


AMINA'S  FAMOUS  BOY.  39 

related  in  the  book  of  Acts.  On  his  way  homewards 
Abdalla  was  attacked  by  disease  at  Medina  (then 
called  Yathrib),  and  before  fair  Amina  or  any  of  her 
friends  could  visit  him  he  died.  He  left  but  poor 
provision  for  his  young  wife — only  a  few  inferior 
camels,  a  slave-girl,  and  a  flock  of  goats. 

Tradition,  which  magnifies  every  event  in  this  his- 
tory, relates  that  a  few  weeks  afterwards,  in  a  day 
towards  the  end  of  summer,*  Amina  became  the 
mother  of  a  boy  who,  marvellous  to  tell,  exclaimed 
as  soon  as  he  came  into  the  world  : 

*'  Allah  is  great !  There  is  no  god  but  Allah,  and 
I  am  his  prophet !  " 

It  is  said  that  men  in  distant  places  were  startled 
by  wondrous  events  that  same  August  day ;  that  a 
violent  earthquake  shook  the  palace  of  great  Chos- 
roes  in  Persia  to  its  very  foundations,  so  that  its 
tall  minarets  toppled  to  the  earth  ;  that  a  certain 
high  ofHcer  saw  in  a  vision  a  wild  camel  overcome 
by  an  Arabian  charger  ;  that  the  sacred  fire  which 
for  a  thousand  years  had  burned  incessantly  on  the 
altar  of  Zoroaster,  under  watch  of  the  Magi,  went 
out ;  that  Iblis  was  cast  into  the  depths  of  the  sea, 
and  the  malignant  jinns  were  thrust  out  by  the 
pure   angels.     The   boy's   grandfather  took    him   to 

*  Caussin  de  Perceval  gives  this  date  August  20,  570  A.D.  ;  and 
Professor  E.  A.  Freeman,  in  the  revised  edition  of  his  "  Lectures  on 
the  Saracens,"  puts  it  in  569  ;  but  Professor  E.  H.  Palmer,  the  schol- 
arly translator  of  the  Koran,  gives  April  20,  571,  though  he  adds 
that  any  date  is  uncertain.  Dr.  Emanuel  Deutsch  gives  the  same 
year.  The  latest  authority,  Dr.  August  Muller,  in  "  Der  Islam," 
vol.  i.,  p.  44,  says  that  570  is  correct,  and  that  April  20,  571  is  the 
"  conventional  date." 


40  THE    YEAR    OF  THE   ELEPHANT. 

the  Kaaba,  where,  holding  him  high  in  his  arms,  he 
solemnly  gave  thanks  to  Allah  for  his  birth,  and 
named  him  Mohammed,  "  the  Praised  One."  This 
name,  we  are  assured,  had  never  been  used  before, 
and  there  were  great  expectations  on  account  of  the 
boy's  birth  ;  but  there  are  grave  doubts  in  this  re- 
spect, and  some  writers  say  that  the  baby  was  origi- 
nally called  Kothan,  a  name  which  was  changed  at  a 
later  period,  for  reasons  which  will  become  apparent 
in  the  course  of  our  story.* 

Doubtless  the  miracles  are  all  exaggerated  inven- 
tions of  after-times,  and  it  is  not  necessary  to  believe 
them,  marvellous  as  Mohammed's  career  proved. 
There  is  no  reason  to  doubt,  however,  that  when  he 
was  seven  days  old  his  venerable  grandfather  gave  a 
feast  to  the  men  of  the  powerful  tribe  of  the  Koreish- 
ites,  and  presented  the  babe  as  one  destined  to 
bring  glory  to  their  race,  a  destiny  of  which  the 
name  Mohammed,  if  given  afterwards,  was  intended 
to  seem  prophetic. 

*  See  Emanuel  Deutsch's  article  on  "  Islam." 


V. 


THE   SACRILEGIOUS   WAR. 


It  was  the  fashion  among  the  ladies  of  high  birth 
at  Mecca,  in  the  olden  time,  to  give  their  children  to 
nurses,  who  took  them  off  to  the  mountains  and 
cared  for  them  in  the  fresh  air,  where  they  had  am- 
ple opportunity  to  develop  their  bodies,  and  to  grow 
strong.  Amina  was  of  high  birth,  and  surely  her 
little  boy  had  a  pedigree  long  enough,  for  it  reached 
to  Adam,  and  she  followed  the  custom  of  the  time 
by  entrusting  Mohammed  to  a  woman  of  the  tribe 
of  Beni  Sad,  whose  pedigree  also  ran  back  to  remote 
antiquity.  The  name  of  this  foster-mother  was 
Halima.  She  accepted  the  care  of  the  fatherless 
child  rather  from  compassion  than  desire,  and  took 
him  off  to  a  valley  among  the  mountains  that  run 
southward  from  Taif.  Poor  Amina,  like  many 
another  person  with  a  long  pedigree,  had  so  little  of 
the  goods  of  this  world  that  there  was  no  great 
promise  of  reward  for  the  nurse's  labor.  Imagine 
this  woman  of  Sad  riding  away  from  the  young 
widow,  carrying  an  only  son,  to  be  gone,  no  one 
could  tell  how  long. 

At  the  end  of  two  years  both  nurse  and  child  re- 
turned, and  Amina  was  so  much  pleased  by  the  fresh 

41 


42  THE    SACRILEGIOUS    WAR. 

and  ruddy  appearance  of  her  son,  that  she  said : 
''  Take  him  back  to  the  desert ;  let  him  grow  and  be 
strong."  He  accordingly  returned  and  remained 
three  years  longer,  though,  during  that  period  he 
was  at  one  time  attacked  by  disease,  which  aroused 
the  superstitious  fears  of  Halima  and  her  husband, 
and  they  carried  him  home  to  Amina,  fearful  lest  he 
might  be  under  the  influence  of  an  evil  jinn.  Halima 
loved  her  little  charge,  however,  and  was  persuaded 
to  take  him  back  again,  though  after  that  she  never 
allowed  him  to  wander  from  her  sight.  In  spite  of 
her  precautions,  the  jinns  managed,  as  she  thought, 
to  get  access  to  him,  and  a  *'  seal  of  prophecy"  was 
placed  upon  him  between  the  shoulders,  which  did 
not  disappear  during  all  his  life.  Those  who  did  not 
believe  that  he  was  a  prophet  at  all  saw  nothing  in 
this  mark  but  a  mole,  nor  do  they  give  more  faith  to 
another  story,  which  relates  that  one  day  Gabriel 
came  down  with  a  companion  angel,  and  gently 
taking  Mohammed's  heart  out  of  his  body,  washed  it 
from  all  uncleanness,  filled  it  with  faith,  knowledge, 
purity,  and  light,  and  replaced  it  as  painlessly  as  it 
had  been  taken  out. 

For  whatever  reason,  Mohammed  was  returned  to 
Amina  at  about  the  age  of  five,  and  did  not  leave 
her  again.  The  following  year  she  took  him  to  the 
city  of  Medina,  on  a  visit  to  relatives,  but  on  the 
return  trip  she  died,  and  for  the  remainder  of  the 
journey  he  was  left  to  the  care  of  a  faithful  slave- 
girl.  She  conducted  him  to  his  aged  grand- 
father, who,  for  the  next  two  years,  cared  for  him 
with  fondness.     At  the  end  of  that  brief  period,  Abd 


THE   GROWING  BOY.  43 

al  Muttalib  died,  leaving  his  grandchild  to  be  pro- 
vided for  by  his  uncle,  Abu  Talib,  who  had  inherited 
also  the  care  of  the  Kaaba.  Abu  Talib  was  a  man 
much  respected  for  his  noble  traits,  and  he  proved  a 
good  friend  to  his  nephew.  He  placed  Mohammed's 
bed  by  the  side  of  his  own,  gave  him  a  seat  at 
his  table,  and  allowed  him  to  accompany  him  wher- 
ever he  went,  thus  making  him  familiar  to  the  fullest 
extent  with  the  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the  tradi- 
tional religion,  and  perhaps  inspiring  him  with  re- 
spect for  them. 

Meantime,  the  prestige  of  the  family  was  over- 
shadowed by  the  branch  of  Omia,  which  held  the 
leadership  in  war,  for  there  was  no  member  of  the 
tribe  of  Hashim  of  sufficient  strength  to  retain  the 
ascendancy.  Among  the  Hashimites,  too,  the  privi- 
leges held  by  Abd  al  Muttalib  were  divided,  for  Abu 
Talib  transferred  to  his  younger  brother.  Abbas,  the 
control  of  the  well  Zem-zem,  and  he  himself  did  not 
obtain  any  commanding  public  position  in  Mecca. 

Let  us  for  a  moment  look  at  our  growing  boy. 
He  was  now  twelve  ;  his  earliest  years  had  been 
passed  among  an  ancient  tribe,  the  speech  of  which 
was  as  celebrated  as  the  atmosphere  of  the  mountains 
for  its  purity.  He  had  been  practised  in  all  the  feats 
of  an  active  people  which  strengthen  and  give  agility 
to  the  bodily  frame  ;  and  with  the  free  air  of  the 
region  he  had  drunk  in  the  freest  spirit  of  the  freest 
tribe    of  his    nation.*     Healthy,    independent,    self- 

*  "The  Arab  was  free,  but  his  freedom  was  not  like  that  of  the 
old  Greek,  or  the  modern  Englishman  or  American,  a  civil  freedom 
enjoyed  in  common  -yvith  his  brethren  ;   it  was  the  mere  absence  of 


44  THE   SACRILEGIOUS   WAR. 

reliant,  he  was  well  prepared  for  a  life  in  which  all 
these  traits  were  destined  to  be  of  the  greatest  use. 

The  good  uncle  was  not  only  interested  in  the 
Kaaba  and  its  worship,  but  he  was  also  one  of  the 
most  active  among  the  traders  who  did  so  much  to 
increase  the  wealth  of  Mecca.  Mohammed  doubt- 
less saw  the  crowds  of  camels  which  at  times  filled 
the  streets  of  his  native  city,  and  we  can  imagine 
how  his  young  mind,  excited  as  it  already  had  been 
by  his  musings  among  the  mountains,  and  by  his 
associations  with  those  older  than  himself,  often  fol- 
lowed in  thought  the  long  trains  as  they  disappeared 
from  sight  over  the  roads  to  the  northward  and  the 
southward,  as  they  journeyed  to  Yemen  or  to  Syria; 
and  many  a  time  he  must  have  asked  what  the  dis- 
tant lands  were  like,  and  what  their  people  might 
be.  When,  on  one  occasion,  Abu  Talib  was  himself 
setting  out  for  Syria,  Mohammed  clung  to  him  and 
pleaded  to  be  permitted  to  go  too,  urging  his  peti- 
tion by  saying,  *'  Who,  O  my  uncle,  will  care  for  me 
when  once  tJion  art  gone  ?  "  The  request  was  granted 
and  the  boy  of  twelve  started  out  on  the  long 
journey. 

The  country  through  which  the  train  passed  was 
peopled  with  all  the  creatures  of  the  Arabian  my- 
thology ;  there  the  jinns,  good  and  bad,  wandered  at 
their  own  free  will,  and  engaged  in  enterprises 
adapted    to    excite    the    youthful    mind ;    there,    in 

any  legal  restraint  upon  his  action.  Every  man  of  a  free  tribe  was 
himself  his  own  Caesar  and  Chosroes  ;  every  man  asserted  the  royal 
prerogative  of  avenging  his  injuries  by  the  sword." — E.  A.  Freeman, 
"  The  History  and  Conquests  of  the  Saracens,"  page  27, 


46  THE   SACRILEGIOUS  WaJ^. 

deserted  and  silent  caves,  it  was  said  that  the  chil- 
dren of  Thamud,  often  mentioned  by  Mohammed  in 
the  Koran,  dwelt,  and  there  the  gigantic  she-camel 
had  issued  miraculously  from  a  mountain  side  ;  there 
old  men  had  been  transformed  into  swine,  and  young 
men  into  monkeys,  as  the  wondering  boy  learned 
from  the  tales  related  by  his  elders  under  the  even- 
ing stars. 

Uncle  and  nephew  visited  the  old  town  of  Bozra 
(Bostra),  on  the  road  to  Damascus,  and  they  were 
hospitably  entertained  in  that  busy  city  of  merchant- 
men, the  market-place  of  Syria,  Irak,  and  the  Hejaz. 
Long  were  the  opportunities  for  conversation  af- 
forded, and  we  may  be  sure  that  they  were  used  in 
discussing  the  differences  between  the  religious 
faiths  professed  by  the  men  of  the  South  and  the 
men  of  the  North.  The  worship  of  idols  may  have 
been  one  of  these  topics  of  conversation  ;  it  could 
hardly  have  been  otherwise,  and  perhaps  this  was 
one  reason  why  Mohammed  afterwards  became  such 
a  devoted  preacher  against  the  idolatry  of  his  coun- 
trymen. He  journeyed  along  the  eastern  shores  of 
the  Dead  Sea,  and  must  have  heard  the  stories  of 
the  destruction  of  the  cities  of  the  plain,  stories 
which  would  have  made  a  person,  young  or  old,  shud- 
der, hearing  them  at  that  age  of  the  world  for  the 
first  time. 

We  are  to  think  of  this  boy  as  without  books  to 
study  about  times  gone  by,  or  to  fill  the  vacancy 
of  the  passing  hour;  and  thus,  as  obliged  to  allow 
his  mind  to  wander  time  and  again  through  well-worn 
regions  of  fancy,  and  over  the  traditions  of  his  people. 


ARABIAN-  POE  TR  V.  47 

It  is  not  easy  to  put  ourselves  in  the  place  of  such 
a  person,  we  who  have  all  our  lives  read  books,  and 
have  lived  with  the  men  of  every  age  as  though  they 
were  present  with  us.  Did  it  breed  in  the  young 
man  a  stronger  wish  to  see  into  the  past  and  to  know 
what  other  parts  of  the  world  were  like  ;  or,  did  it 
make  him  taciturn,  as  we  know  he  was,  thoughtful 
and  wrapped  up  in  himself  and  in  thoughts  of  some 
wonderful  mission  that  he  imagined  was  before  him, 
or  which  he  laid  out  for  himself?  We  cannot  tell. 
We  may  only  see  what  his  life  was,  and  vaguely 
guess. 

Though  the  Arabians  had  at  this  time  no  books, 
they  were  interested  in  letters,  and  had  literary  con- 
tests, in  which  large  numbers  of  persons  joined  with 
intense  spirit.  There  was  about  the  town  of  Okatz, 
a  place  a  little  east  of  Mecca,  a  pleasant  region  where 
merchant  and  traveller  comforted  themselves  after 
toilsome  journeys,  and  where  at  certain  times  a  gen- 
eral fair  was  held.  On  these  occasions,  so  tradition 
asserts,  bards  recited  poems  ;  each  praised  the  virtues 
of  his  lady-love,  dwelt  upon  the  charms  of  the  en- 
campment she  had  rested  in,  mourned  over  the  soli- 
tude that  she  had  left  when  she  deserted  the  spot, 
or,  perchance,  they  proclaimed  their  own  personal 
prowess,  the  greatness  and  antiquity  of  their  tribes, 
the  gentleness  and  beauty  of  their  favorite  camels. 
To  the  most  worthy,  prizes  were  awarded,  their 
poems   being  written   out    in   elaborate  characters.^ 

*  It  is  said  in  most  books  on  the  subject  that  the  prize  poems,  thus 
brilliantly  written  out,  were  hung  up  in  the  Kaalja  ;  but  this  has  been 
denied  since  the  days  of  Pocock,  who  deemed  it  entirely  improDable 


48  THE   SACRILEGIOUS   WAR. 

Great  was  the  competition  on  such  occasions,  and  at 
the  period  to  which  we  are  now  giving  our  attention, 
the  rivalry  resulted  in  a  war  bloody  and  long,  called, 
from  the  period  of  the  year  in  which  it  began,  ''  sac- 
rilegious.*' 

As  it  became  necessary  in  Europe  during  the 
Middle  Age  to  have  a  Truce  of  God  and  a  Peace  of 
God,  during  which  men  were  not  to  assert  the  right 
of  private  vengeance,  so  in  Arabia,  in  early  times, 
men  who  might  pursue  to  the  death  those  who  had 
wronged  them,  were  not  allowed  to  exercise  their 
bloody  prerogative  during  certain  sacred  periods  of 
the  year,  and  it  was  at  one  of  these  that  this  war 
broke  out. 

One  poet,  who  came  up  to  the  fair  at  Okatz  in  the 
year  580  (when  Mohammed  was  about  nine  )^ears  of 
age),  from  the  country  between  Mecca  and  Taif, 
vaunted  the  superiority  of  his  tribe  so  eagerly,  that 
he  incited  the  mercurial  Koreishites  to  draw  their 
swords,  and  thus  blood  flowed  in  a  contest  that 
ought  to  have  been  a  triumph  of  peace.  Passions, 
when  once  excited  in  this  way,  often  run  riot  for  a 
long  time,  and  so  it  happened  on  this  occasion.  It 
resulted  in  the  establishment  of  a  rule  that  every 
man  coming  to  the  fair  should  surrender  his  arms, 
but  this  proved  ineffectual;  the  strife  was  continued  ; 
caravans  were  attacked  and  pillaged  ;  lives  were  lost 

(see  his  "  Specimen,"  p.  159).  Deutsch  expresses  the  present  opinion 
of  most  scholars  when  he  says  that  the  story  is  "unfortunately  a 
myth,"  the  fact  being  that  the  poems  were  simply  compared  for  thejr 
imaginative  beauty  to  "  pearls  loosely  strung  together,"  not  hung  up. 
See  also  Dr.  August  Muller,  "  Der  Islam,"  page  42,  note,  for  a  dis- 
cussion of  the  subject. 


A    UNION  FOR  PEACE.  49 

in  the  convoys;  and  in  time  the  struggle  spread  to 
the  allies  of  each  tribe  ;  and  the  boy  who  was  nine 
when  the  first  blood  was  spilled,  Avas  nineteen  when 
peace  was  established.  Mohammed  had  not  himself 
been  a  fighter,  but  he  had  attended  his  uncles  at 
times,  and  had  sent  some  arrows  towards  the  enemy 
.  with  his  boyish  bow. 

This  war  had  one  good  result ;  it  led  to  the  forma- 
tion of  a  union  between  certain  tribes  for  the  sup- 
pression of  injustice  and  violence  and  the  promotion 
of  peace.  When  a  wrong  had  been  done,  and  the 
separate  tribes  neglected  to  punish  the  offender,  this 
confederacy  was  pledged  to  be  the  champion  of  the 
injured.  An  uncle  of  Mohammed  is  credited  with 
the  honor  of  this  movement. 

The  representatives  of  Hashim,  with  other  de- 
scendants of  Kossai,  met  at  a  feast  and  solemnly 
swore  by  Allah  al-Muntakim,  the  avenging  deity, 
that  they  would  thus  champion  the  oppressed  and 
see  their  claims  adjusted  so  long  as  a  drop  of  water 
remained  in  the  ocean  ;  or  they  would  satisfy  the 
just  demand  from  their  own  wealth.  It  was  the 
proud  exclamation  of  Mohammed  in  after-years  that 
he  would  not  exchange  for  the  choicest  camel  in  all 
Arabia  the  memory  that  he  had  been  present  when 
the  oath  was  taken  at  the  house  of  Abdalla  binding 
the  confederates  to  stand  by  the  oppressed  ! 


^^^^^^^H 

^^^^^^^^^H 

VI. 

THE    CAMEL-DRIVER    OF   THE    DESERT. 

If  we  may  believe  the  traditions  through  which  we 
are  threading  our  way,  there  were  other  signs  of  good 
omen  in  the  Arabian  horizon  at  this  time.  They 
say  that  on  the  occasion  of  the  celebration  of  one  of 
the  most  carefully  observed  idol  feasts,  four  Ara- 
bians who  saw  farther  than  their  countrymen  into 
the  future,  met  in  solemn  and  secret  conclave  to 
question  the  truth  and  reality  of  their  religion. 
"  We  Arabians,"  they  said  one  to  another,  "  are 
walking  in  a  false  way  ;  we  have  strayed  from  the  re- 
ligion of  Abraham.  What,  indeed,  is  this  pretended 
divinity  in  honor  of  whom  we  sacrifice  victims,  and 
about  whom  we  make  our  solemn  processions  ?  It 
is  nothing  more  than  a  block  of  senseless  stone,  and 
it  cannot  do  us  good  or  evil.  Come,  let  us  seek 
truth  ;  let  us  look  for  the  pure  religion  of  our  Fath- 
er Abraham  ;  and  for  this  holy  purpose  let  us  leave 
our  native  land  and  learn  what  strangers  can  tell  us." 

One  of  these  skeptics  (or  Hanifs)  was  Waraka,  a 
man  who  had  had  dealings  with  both  Christians  and 
Jews,  and  was  better  educated  than  his  fellow-citi- 
zens. It  is  asserted  that  he  was  persuaded  that  a 
messenger  from  heaven  (some'  Mahdi),  was  then 
about  to  come  into  the  world.     Waraka  had  learned 

50 


SICE P TICS  SEEKING  LIGHT.  51 

the  Hebrew  language,  and  finally  after  long  study  he 
became  a  convert  to  Christianity."^  The  second  of 
the  group  of  enquirers  was  a  cousin  of  Waraka  ;  he 
had  fought  in  the  sacrilegious  war,  and  now  he  started 
ofT  to  travel  into  far  countries  seeking  light.  At 
last  he  found  himself  at  the  court  of  Rome,  where 
he  became  convinced  of  the  truth  of  Christianity 
and  was  baptized.  The  third  was  a  grandson  of 
Abd  al  Muttalib,  who,  after  much  dif^culty  and 
many  wanderings,  found  a  home  also  in  the  Christian 
Church.  The  fourth  was  Zeyd,  a  Koreishite  ;  he 
struggled  long  with  his  doubts,  going  day  by  day  to 
the  Kaaba,  where  he  piously  meditated,  leaning 
against  the  wall  of  the  building,  and  giving  voice  to 
his  feelings  in  these  words  :  "  Lord,  if  I  knew  in 
what  manner  thou  wouldest  that  I  should  serve  and 
adore  thee,  I  would  obey  thy  will  ;  but  I  do  not 
know.  O  give  me  light  !  "  The  meditations  and 
prayers  of  Zeyd  brought  him  neither  to  the  religion 
of  the  Jews  nor  to  that  of  the  Christians,  but  to  a 
faith  of  his  own  invention  ;  he  worshipped  a  god  who 
was  one,  and  declaimed  with  energy  against  the  false 
divinities  and  superstitions  of  his  countrymen,  warn- 
ing them  of  the  sinfulness  of  certain  of  their  abom- 
inable customs.  His  preaching  was  so  full  of 
feeling  that  it  excited  lively  opposition,  and  finally 
he  was  himself  put  into  prison.  Escaping  from  con- 
finement,   Zeyd    wandered    through     Mesopotamia 

*  Sir  William  Muir  considers  "such  anticipations"  "altogether 
puerile,"  though  he  admits  that  it  is  highly  probable  that  a  spirit  of 
religious  enquiry,  a  disposition  to  reject  idolatry,  and  a  perception  of 
the  superiority  of  Judaism  and  Christianity,  existed  in  some  quarters. 


^2  THE   CAMEL-DRIVEk   OE  THE  DESERT. 

(Irak)  and  Syria,  learning  all  that  he  could  about  the 
religions  of  the  peoples  he  visited,  until  finally  he 
encountered  a  band  of  Arabs  who  robbed  him  of 
his  goods  and  put  him  to  death. 

Is  there  truth  in  these  traditions?  No  one  can 
teH  us  ;  but  even  if  the  details  are  baseless,  there  is 
still  ground  for  believing  that  at  this  time  the  Ara- 
bian mind  was  waking  up  to  a  sense  of  the  need  of 
some  better  religion  than  that  of  the  fathers.  Sel- 
dom does  any  great  movement  astonish  the  world  by 
rising  unannounced.  Never  does  a  great  invention 
startle  us  but  we  find  that  many  minds  have  been, 
for  a  long  time,  perhaps,  studying  in  the  line  that 
was  followed  by  the  man  who  finally  succeeded. 
There  is  such  a  thing  as  sympathetic  groping  for 
light  by  persons  who  have  no  communication  with 
each  other,  and  there  is  such  a  thing  as  united  search- 
ing by  men  who  find  not  what  they  want  until  they 
learn  that  another  Galahad  has  actually  seen  the 
holy  Grail.  So  it  must  have  been  at  this  time  (as 
it  ever  has  been)  ;  perhaps  there  were  more  men 
than  these  four  asking  themselves  at  the  same  mo- 
ment :  ''  What  am  I  ?  What  is  life  ?  What  is  death  ? 
What  am  I  to  believe?  What  am  I  to  do?  What  is 
this  unfathomable  thing  I  live  in  which  men  call 
the  universe  ?  "  *  Perhaps  Waraka  and  his  fellows 
were  but  a  few  among  many  *'  Hanifs,"  as  these 
seekers  after  light  were  called,  and  doubtless  they 
influenced  Arabian  opinion  generally. f 

*  See  Carlyle's  essay,  "  The  Hero  as  a  Prophet." 
f  "  These  Hanifs  forma  very  curious  and  most  important  phase  of 
Arabian  faith  before  Mohammed — a  phase  of  Jewish  Christianity,  or 


ill 


liiiiiii 


m 


'    r^ 


^ 

-^m:. 


11^ 


I  |i|i. 


l!iililiiiliiii!ililliii;[|!liliilllliiii;iiil!iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii;'ii.ri!i^^ 


54  THE   CAMEL-DRIVER   OF  THE   DESERT. 

Meantime  young  Mohammed  was  watching  his 
sheep  on  the  hills  and  in  the  valleys  about  his  native 
city,  for  as  he  himself  said  long  afterwards,  there 
never  was  a  prophet  who  was  not  once  a  shepherd, 
and  we  shall  find  that  he  was  to  be  a  prophet.  Not 
many  of  us  know  what  it  is  to  be  alone.  Perhaps 
we  do  not  stop  to  think  how  few  moments  of  our 
lives  are  spent  in  solitude.  We  may  think  we  find 
it  if  we  walk  forth  by  night  or  wander  through 
the  most  sparsely  inhabited  regions  that  we  can  find 
in  our  civilized  lands  ;  but  such  journeys  give  us  no 
adequate  idea  of  the  solitude  that  the  lonely  shep- 
herd of  Arabia  knew  hundreds  of  years  ago.  Noth- 
ing human  detracted  from  his  thoughts  if  he  wished 
to  reflect  upon  any  of  the  great  problems  that  seem 
to  us  now  to  have  been  then  attracting  attention 
from  all  who  reflected  at  all.  We  cannot  think  of 
Mohammed  as  other  than  thoughtful.  He  must 
have  looked  to  the  sky  and  the  wide-spreading  world 
for  some  replies  to  the  questions  the  Hanifs  asked. 

He  was  not,  however,  so  given  to  reflection  as  to 

Christian  Judaism.  They  loved  to  call  themselves  also  '  Abrahamitic 
Sabians,'  and  Mohammed,  at  the  outset,  called  himself  one  of  them. 
They  were  to  all  intents  and  purposes  '  heretics.'  They  believed  in 
one  God,  They  had  the  Law  and  the  Gospel,  and  further,  certain 
Rolls  of  Abraham  and  Moses,  called  Ashmaat,  to  which  Mohammed 
at  first  appeals," — "Islam,  "by  Emanuel  Deutsch.  "  The  worship 
of  one  supreme  Allah  seems  to  have  always  been  the  basis  of  Arabian 
religion.  The  Semitic  race  has  never  conceived  of  any  other  gov- 
ernment of  the  universe  except  an  absolute  monarchy." — Renan 
"  Etudes  d^ Histoh'e  religieuse,^'  p.  273. 

"  Since  the  time  of  Abraham,"  says  Barthelemy  St.  Hilaire,  "  wor- 
shippers of  one  God  had  always  been  numbered  among  the  Arabians." 
— "  Mahomet  et  le  Goran,"  p.  67. 


MOHAMMED— HIS  APPEARANCE,  55 

be  entirely  impractical,  and  we  find  him  going  to 
Syria  and  to  Yemen  as  agent  of  caravans.  His  uncle 
said  to  him :  "  I  am,  as  thou  knowest,  a  man  of 
small  substance ;  and  verily  the  times  go  hard  with 
me.;  now  lo,  a  caravan  of  the  tribe  of  thy  fathers  is 
preparing  to  go  to  Syria  with  merchandise.  Kadija, 
the  widow,  asketh  for  sons  of  Koreish  to  go,  and 
she  is  ready  to  accept  thy  services." 

"  Be  it  as  thou  hast  said,"  replied  the  young 
man. 

A  bargain  was  made  with  Kadija,  that  for  four 
camels  Mohammed  should  conduct  a  caravan  over 
the  same  route  that  he  had  taken  when  he  went  to 
Bozra ;  and  the  old  associations  must  have  come 
back  to  him  with  great  force  as  he  looked  upon  the 
scenes  after  an  interval  of  thirteen  years,  which  com- 
prised all  of  his  youth.  Every  thing  added  to  his 
knowledge  of  men  and  of  life,  and  prepared  him  for 
success.  He  disposed  to  advantage  of  the  merchan- 
dise that  Kadija  had  committed  to  his  care,  and  ob- 
tained other  products  to  be  sold  at  Mecca.  Thus 
his  title  "  The  Trusty  "  was  more  than  ever  fixed  in 
the  estimation  of  his  fellow-citizens. 

Mohammed  was  a  man  of  little  over  the  medium 
stature,  with  a  commanding  presence  ;  his  wide  chest 
and  broad  shoulders  were  surmounted  by  a  long  and 
finely  moulded  neck,  and  a  massive  head,  from  which 
looked  out  a  frank,  oval  face  marked  by  a  prominent 
aquiline  nose ;  large,  restless,  and  piercing  black 
eyes,  over  which  long,  heavy  lashes  drooped ;  and  a 
bushy  beard  fell  upon  his  breast.  He  was  continu- 
ally meditating;  never  speaking  except  from  neces- 


56  THE    CAMEL-DRIVER    OF  THE   DESERT. 

sity,  and  then  uttering  but  few  and  those  pregnant 
words.  His  organization  was  exceedingly  sensitive, 
and  he  had  strong  passions,  which  were,  however, 
controlled  by  reason.  His  habits  were  extremely 
simple,  and  his  acts  merited  the  reputation  for  mod- 
esty that  he  was  accorded  by  all  who  knew  him. 
Kind  and  thoughtful  towards  his  friends,  he  was 
almost  unrelenting  towards  enemies.  Such  was  the 
camel-driver  whom  Kadija  obtained  through  the 
intervention  of  Abu  Talib. 

Kadija,  whose  lineage  was  the  same  as  that  of 
Mohammed,  was  a  widow  who  had  been  twice  mar- 
ried. Her  husbands  had  left  her  with  a  considerable 
fortune,  to  which  she  had  added  by  her  good  judg- 
ment, and  by  the  skill  of  the  agents  she  had  em- 
ployed. Though  forty  years  of  age,  she  was  of 
fairer  countenance  than  many  who  were  younger, 
and  her  personal  and  other  charms  had  led  some  of 
the  chief  men  among  the  Koreishites  to  endeavor  to 
tempt  her  to  renounce  the  dignified  and  indepen- 
dent widowhood  that  she  seemed  to  enjoy.  She 
failed  to  have  affection  for  any  of  them  aroused  in 
her  heart. 

What  changed  her  feelings  now,  we  do  not  know, 
but  the  success  of  her  new  agent,  and  his  personal 
character  attracted  her  to  him,  and  when  he  returned 
from  Syria,  she  seems  to  have  been  on  the  look-out 
for  his  arrival;  like  some  Jewish  watchman  on  the 
tower  over  the  gate,  she  gazed  into  the  distance, 
and  lo,  as  Mohammed  approached  the  end  of  his 
long  journey,  her  ardent  imagination  pictured  to  her 
two  angels  shading  him  with  their  wings  from  the 


THE    GOOD   KADIJA.  57 

intense  heat  of  the  Arabian  sun  !  The  *'  faithful  one" 
was  to  her  mind  under  the  immediate  watch  of 
Allah,  and  her  sentiments,  already  warm,  became 
deeper, — she  wished  for  him  as  husband. 

Mohammed  soon  received  a  visit  from  a  sister  of 
Kadija,  who  said  to  him  :  ''  Why,  O  Mohammed, 
is  it  that  at  your  mature  age,  you  do  not  marry?" 
The  question  would  have  been  a  strange  one  to 
come  from  a  young  woman  to  a  young  man  of  twen- 
ty-five in  our  day,  but  as  it  was  not  usual  for  an 
Arabian  to  remain  single  after  reaching  adult  age,  it 
was  not  so  remarkable  then.  Mohammed  replied 
that  he  had  no  fortune  to  offer  to  a  bride  ;  and  this 
made  it  easy  for  the  question  :  ''  Perchance  that  diffi- 
culty may  be  removed  ;  a  lady  of  sufficient  wealth 
might  offer  to  share  it  with  thee ;  then  what  wouldst 
thou  say?" 

"  Is  there  such  a  lady  ;  and  who  is  she?"  asked 
the  young  man. 

''  Kadija !  " 

''  Is  it  possible  for  me  to  ingratiate  myself  with 
her?  " 

^'  Leave  that  to  me." 

It  appears  that  the  father  of  the  widow  was  still 
living,  and  refused  to  give  his  consent  to  his  daugh- 
ter's plan.  Though  there  seemed  to  be  danger  that 
blood  would  be  shed,  in  an  angry  discussion  that 
followed,  all  obstacles  to  the  union  were  at  last  re- 
moved, and  Mohammed,  who  was  then  twenty-five, 
became  husband  of  Kadija,  aged  fort}^  The  mar- 
riage proved  admirable  in  all  respects  ;  the  wife  ap- 
preciated the  character  and  capacity  of  the  husband. 


58 


THE    CAMEL-DRIVER    OF  THE   DESERT, 


and  he  loved  her  with  an  affection  so  sincere  that 
nothing  could  rob  him  of  it,  and  the  influence  of  the 
good  Kadija  remained  with  him  throughout  his  life. 
It  was  characteristic  of  Mohammed  not  to  forget  his 
friends,  and  on  this  occasion  he  remembered  Halima 
who  had  watched  over  his  tottering  first  steps.  She 
was  called  from  the  pastures  of  Beni  Sad  to  rejoice 
at  the  wedding,  and  when  she  returned  to  continue 
her  life  of  simple  content,  she  took  with  her  a  flock 
of  forty  sheep,  a  present  from  her  foster-son. 

Well  did  Abu  Talib,  in  view  of  this  marriage,  lift 
up  his  voice  in  these  words  :  *'  Praises  be  unto  Allah, 
who  has  given  us  birth  in  the  line  of  Ishmael ! 
Praised  be  Allah,  that  Mohammed,  not  blessed  with 
the  good  gifts  of  fortune,  has  asked  and  received  the 
hand  of  Kadija.  He  has  no  equal.  This  marriage 
will  be  blessed  of  the  Lord  of  Majesty  and  Liberal- 
ity ;  a  future  full  of  glory  is  open  to  Mohammed 
the  son  of  Abdalla  !  " 


VII. 

THE    MAN    OF   AFFAIRS    MEDITATES. 

Years  of  domestic  happiness  followed,  and  it  was 
the  joy  of  Mohammed  and  Kadija  to  become,  in 
process  of  time,  parents  of  a  son.  An  event  of  this 
kind  causes  so  much  rejoicing  in  an  Arabian  house- 
hold, that  the  fathers  call  themselves  after  the  sons, 
and  thus  the  ''  Son  of  Abdalla  "  became  the  "  Father 
of  Kasim."  Another  son  and  four  daughters  fol- 
lowed, but  none  of  them  all  has  much  interest  for  us, 
except  Fatima,  one  of  the  youngest  of  the  daughters, 
upon  whom  much  of  our  future  history  will  be  found 
to  depend.     The  sons  died  very  young. 

During  these  peaceful  years  Mohammed  busied 
himself  as  a  man  of  affairs  in  the  management  of 
Kadija's  caravans,  going  to  distant  places,  as  he  had 
before,  but  he  did  not  prove  so  capable  as  a  husband 
as  he  had  when  simple  agent,  and  the  wealth  of  his 
wife  rather  diminished  than  increased.  Kadija's 
fortune  had,  however,  raised  Mohammed  to  a  high 
social  position  in  his  native  city,  a  rank  to  which, 
it  is  true,  his  birth  in  the  tribe  of  Koreishites  had 
already  entitled  him. 

The  wealth  acquired  by  marriage  seems  to  have 
exerted  another  noteworthy  influence  ;  it  gave  Mo- 

59 


6o  THE  MAN  OF  AFFAIRS  MEDITATES. 

hammed  more  leisure  to  indulge  his  habitual  habit  of 
meditation,  and  for  study  in  the  religions  of  his  fathers, 
as  well  as  in  those  of  the  Jews  and  Christians.  It  is 
probably  true  that  he  could  neither  read  nor  write, 
but  in  this  he  was  not  behind  his  contemporaries  in 
Arabia;  letters,  as  we  have  observed,  were  but  little 
cultivated  before  his  day,  and  there  is  no  probability 
that  there  existed  a  single  volume  of  prose,  the  prod- 
uct of  the  Arabian  mind,  which  he  could  have  read 
had  he  been  better  instructed.  There  were  a  few 
poems,  such  as  had  gained  prizes  at  the  fairs,  but 
that  v/as  all,  and  he  who  wished  to  cultivate  his 
mind  was  forced  to  look  to  Jewish  or  Christian 
sources.  In  these  directions  Mohammed  did  not 
learn  from  books,  but  from  oral  tradition,  and  what  he 
took  into  his  mind  was  distorted,  disconnected,  and 
fragmentary ;  but,  though  it  was  a  mixture,  there 
ran  through  it  all  certain  general  principles  which 
took  root  and  bore  fruit. 

During  this  period  the  Arabians  were  becoming 
better  acquainted  with  their  neighbors  to  the  east- 
ward. A  commercial  expedition  had  visited  the  city 
of  Hira,  capital  of  Irak,  a  city  situated  in  the  valley 
of  the  Euphrates,  not  far  south  of  the  site  of  Baby- 
lon. The  men  who  had  accompanied  this  caravan 
returned  with  rich  profits,  and  adorned  the  city  of 
Taif  with  new  buildings,  erected  by  laborers  sent  by 
the  Persian  ruler  specially  to  make  a  memorial  of 
his  good-will  towards  them  ;  for  he  had  been  very 
favorably  impressed  by  their  sagacity  and  spirit.  At 
this  time  the  empires  of  Rome  and  Persia  were,  as 
we  have  seen,  the   two   prominent   powers   of   the 


62  THE  MAN   OF  AFFAIRS  MEDITATES. 

world,  dividing  between  them  the  fairest  and  most 
famous  regions  of  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa.  The 
Eastern  empire,  with  its  capital  at  Constantinople, 
still  extended  over  nearly  all  the  countries  around 
the  Mediterranean,  and  the  commands  of  Caesar 
were  obeyed  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Euphrates. 
The  illustrious  dynasty  of  the  Sassanidse  now  ruled 
Persia,  and  its  greatness  is  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able phenomena  in  the  history  of  the  world.  Rome, 
or  the  Eastern  empire,  represented  Christianity,  and 
Persia  the  Zoroastrian  fire-worship.* 

Under  the  influence  of  his  new  wealth,  we  find 
Mohammed  gradually  withdrawing  from  commerce 
and  devoting  his  time  to  reflection  upon  the  con- 
dition of  his  country,  and  the  possibilities  of  improv- 
ing it.  We  must  remember  that  while  the  Bedawins 
roamed  the  interior  desert  free  from  all  dictation  by 
outside  rulers,  the  Arabs  of  Yemen  and  of  some 
other  sections  were  under  Persian  influence ;  those  of 
Syria  were  governed  from  Constantinople ;  while 
those  of  Irak  or  Mesopotamia  vacillated  between 
allegiance  to  the  one  great  power  and  the  other. 

Judaism  and  Christianity  existed  alongside  of  feti- 
chism  and  paganism  ;  but  the  largest  portion  of  the 
people  worshipped  the  numberless  divinities  of  the 
Kaaba,  though  admitting  that  there  was  an  Allah, 
supreme  above  all  others.  The  belief  in  jinns  and 
angels,  which  has  been  outlined,  was  not  systemati- 
cally expressed  at  any  time,  though  it  had  long  ex- 
isted as  a  vague  and  poetic  superstition.     There  was 

*  "  The  History  and  Conquests  of  the  Saracens,"  by  E.  A.  Free- 
man, pp.  lo,  17. 


WARAKA    THE   LEARNED  HANIF.  63 

also  an  uncertain  faith  in  the  resurrection  to  another 
life,  after  the  separation  of  the  soul  and  the  body. 
The  people  were  grossly  addicted  to  gaming,  and  to 
the  abuse  of  wine  ;  and  every  man  married  as  many 
wives  as  he  could  support,  some  of  these  relations 
being  of  the  most  odious  character.  The  ferocious 
custom  of  burying  female  offspring  alive  as  soon 
as  born  was  followed,  either  as  considering  women 
not  worth  bringing  up,  or  from  an  exaggerate  sense 
of  honor,  as  though  fearing  that  the  helpless  ones 
might  some  day  be  carried  off  by  an  enemy  ! 

The  most  learned  man  of  his  time  was  that  War- 
aka  who  chivalrously  entered  upon  the  search  for 
a  better  religion  than  that  of  his  fathers,  and  of  his 
society  and  wisdom  Mohammed  enjoyed  the  advan- 
tage. Like  him,  Mohammed  was  cast  down  by  re- 
flections upon  the  condition  of  his  people  ;  and  like 
him  also,  he  had  dim  impressions  that  there  might 
be  something  elevating  for  them  in  the  scriptures  of 
other  lands. 

On  the  side  of  the  mountain  Hera,  two  or  three 
miles  to  the  north  from  Mecca,  there  was  a  small 
cavern  in  the  red-granite  rock,  in  which  Mohammed 
found  a  quiet  place  for  nursing  his  thoughts,  and 
there  he  was  sometimes  accompanied  by  his  faithful 
Kadija.  Like  a  Christian  anchorite,  he  secluded 
himself  for  days  at  a  time,  brooding  with  ever  deep- 
ening anxiety  upon  the  weighty  problems  that  had 
presented  themselves  to  his  soul.  Here  he  was 
accustomed  to  pass  the  Arabian  Lent,  the  month 
Ramadan,  in  fasting,  meditation,  and  prayer,  looking 
from  his  lofty  vantage-ground  upon  a  natural  scene 


64  THE  MAN  OF  AFFAIRS  M  EDIT  A  TES. 

quite  in  consonance  with  the  upheavals  of  his  soul. 
Not  a  green  object  did  his  weary  eye  rest  upon  ;  all 
was  barren  and  black  ;  save  when  the  white  sand  of 
the  valley  fell  within  his  view. 

Under  such  an  unnatural  strain  Mohammed's 
mind  became  the  sport  of  dreams  by  day  and  of 
dreams  by  night  ;  ecstacies  and  trances  came  upon 
him,  and  oftentimes,  losing  all  consciousness  of  sur- 
rounding objects,  he  lay  upon  the  ground  as  dead.* 
Good  Kadija  sometimes  witnessed  these  accesses  of 
enthusiasm,  and  vainly  enquired  their  cause.  Her 
husband  made  mysterious  responses  ;  at  times  he 
gave  utterance  to  almost  frenzied  language,  some  of 
which  has  been  preserved.  One  of  his  rhapsodies, 
though  not  the  earliest,  is  repeated  as  a  sort 
of  Pater  Noster  in  the  public  and  private  worship  of 
Arabia  still : 

Praise  be  to  Allah,  the  Lord  of  creation, 
The  All-merciful,  the  All-compassionate  ! 
Ruler  of  the  day  of  reckoning  ! 

*  We  need  not  trouble  ourselves  to  enquire  into  the  nature  of  these 
trances  upon  which  so  much  discussion  has  been  based.  Syed 
Ahmed,  in  his  "Essays,"  says  "Mohammed  was  vigorous  and 
healthy,  both  in  his  infancy  and  his  youth.  .  .  .  Through  the 
whole  of  his  life  he  was  exposed  to  great  perils  and  hardships,  all 
of  which  he  bore  with  unflinching  patience  and  courage."  Sprenger 
believes  that  they  were  epileptic  fits  ;  but  Lake  ("  Islam  :  its  Origin, 
Genius,  and  Mission,"  pp.  37,  41)  says  :  "  This  state  of  mind  is  not 
peculiar  to  any  religion.  It  is  found  among  all  religious  enthusiasts, 
not  excepting  the  idolaters  of  India,  Greece,  and  Rome,  and  amongst 
Christians  of  most  shades  of  opinion, — in  convents,  in  nunneries,  and 
with  hermits  in  the  wilderness.  ...  It  was  the  paroxysm  of  a 
soul  struggling  from  darkness  into  light,  although  the  light  was  only 
that  of  natural  religion." 


ENTHUSIASTIC  RHAPSODIES.  65 

Thee  we  worship  and  thee  we  invoke  for  aid. 

Lead  us  in  the  right  path  ; 
The  path  of  those  to  whom  thou  art  gracious, 
Not  of  those  thou  art  wroth  with,  nor  of  those  who  err. 

— Stira  i. 

Perhaps,  overcome  by  a  sense  of  the  ungratefulness 
of  man,  when  forgetting  that  he  was  supported  by 
Allah  most  gracious,  he  exclaimed  : 

"  By  the  snorting  chargers  1 

And  those  who  strike  hre  with  the  hoof  ! 

And  those  that  make  unexpected  raids, 

And  darken  with  the  dust  of  the  desert, 

And  dash  through  a  host  therein  ! 

Verily  man  is  to  his  Lord  ungrateful. 

And  is  himself  a  witness  thereof  ; 

Verily  he  is  keen  in  loving  this  world's  goods. 

Ah,  knoweth  he  not  when  the  graves  shall  be  opened 

And  what  is  in  the  graves  shall  be  brought  forth  ? 

Verily  on  that  day  Allah  shall  learn  what  is  in  them." 

— Sura  c. 

At  another  time  the  lost  state  of  human  kind  forced 
itself  upon  him  with  vividness,  and  he  cried  out : 

"  By  the  declining  day  ! 

Verily  man  rushes  to  destruction. 

Save  such  as  believe  and  do  righteousness. 

And  urge  one  another  to  truth  and  patience." 

— Sura  ciii. 

These  are  not  the  ravings  of  an  unbalanced  mind, 
but  the  powerful  cries  of  one  in  earnest  for  the  good 
of  others.  They  were  forced  from  the  prophet  by 
intense  feeling,  and  are  the  utterances  of  one  who, 
in  the  words  of  a  master  of  emphatic  expression,  had 
"  found  it  all  out  ;  was  in  doubt  and  darkness  no 
longer,  but  saw  it  all.       That  all  idols  and  formulas 


66  THE  MAN  OF  AFFAIRS  MEDITATES, 

were  nothing,  miserable  bits  of  wood  ;  that  there 
was  one  God,  in  and  over  all ;  and  we  must  leave  all 
idols  and  look  to  Him.  That  God  is  great;  and 
that  there  is  nothing  else  great !  He  is  Reality. 
Wooden  idols  are  not  real;  he  is  real.  He  made  us 
at  first,  sustains  us  yet ;  we  and  all  things  are  but  a 
shadow  of  Him;  a  transitory  garment,  veiling  the 
Eternal  Splendor.  'AllaJiu  akbar' — Allah  is  great. 
'  Islam;— SMg  must  submit  to  Allah !  "  * 

Meantime,  the  prestige  of  Mohammed  was  grow- 
ing. On  one  occasion,  when  a  flood  had  rushed 
down  the  valley,  or  when  perhaps  a  fire  had  de- 
stroyed a  portion  of  the  Kaaba,  it  was  rebuilt  up  to 
the  point  at  which  the  sacred  white  stone  was  to  be 
put  in  its  former  place.  Then  a  strife  for  the  honor 
of  inserting  the  precious  symbol  arose,  and  hot  words 
passed  between  the  devout  but  quick-tempered 
builders  as  to  which  tribe  should  furnish  the  man 
to  perform  the  coveted  duty.  A  solemn  convoca- 
tion was  called  in  the  sacred  enclosure,  where,  at 
the  suggestion  of  the  head  of  the  Koreishites,  it  was 
agreed  that  the  person  who  should,  at  a  specified 
time,  enter  a  certain  door,  should  be  commissioned 
to  replace  the  stone.  At  the  moment,  Mohammed, 
— **el  Amin,"  the  Faithful  one,  entered,  and  was  in- 
formed of  the  agreement.  With  a  sagacity  that  as- 
tonished the  simple-minded  folk,  he  threw  down  his 
mantle,  placed  the  stone  upon  it,  and  asked  the  four 

*  Carlyle,  "The  Hero  as  a  Prophet."  The  late  Emanuel  Deutsch 
differs  from  this  interpretation,  and  says  that  a  Moslem  means 
"  one  who  strives  after  righteousness  with  his  own  strength."  Islam 
is  the  religion  of  a  Moslem. 


MOHAMMED  MAKES  AN  IMPRESSION.  6'J 

chief  men  of  the  four  principal  families  to  grasp  each 
a  corner.  Thus  they  lifted  the  stone  to  the  proper 
height,  and  then  Mohammed  gently  pushed  it  into 
its  place  in  the  wall.  So  deep  an  impression  did  the 
circumstance  make  upon  the  people  of  Mecca,  that 
the  names  of  the  four  men  who  held  the  mantle 
have,  with  religious  care,  been  kept  in  memory  to 
the  present  time.  Not  only  was  peace  preserved  by 
this  act,  but  the  character  of  Mohammed  for  wis- 
dom and  judgment  was  much  raised ;  probably, 
also,  he  was  himself  impressed  by  a  feeling  that  he 
was  no  ordinary  person,  a  sentiment  that  seems  to 
have  been  strong  in  his  mind  throughout  life. 


VIIL 

THE    MONTH    RAMADAN. 

Years  passed,  and  Mohammed  continued  his  Hfe 
of  meditation  in  desert  places.  At  times  he  heard 
voices  caUing  to  him  and  saying:  ''Hail!  thou 
messenger  of  Allah  !  "  but  when  he  looked  about  to 
see  who  spoke  to  him,  lo,  only  trees  and  rocks  were 
about  him  on  all  sides.  We  cannot  believe  that 
Mohammed  lived  such  a  life,  and  kept  in  his  own 
heart  all  the  stimulating  impulses  which  he  possessed 
at  these  times  without  betraying  the  fact  to  the 
people  about  him.  They  must  have  discussed 
among  themselves  the  change  that  had  come  over 
the  husband  of  Kadija,  the  man  whom  they  had  once 
so  highly  esteemed  for  his  practical  character. 

Doubtless  he  spoke  to  them  of  the  religion  of  the 
Jew  and  the  Christian,  and  in  his  presence  they  may 
have  attended  to  him,  saying :  "  Truly,  Allah  {foes 
hold  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  lest  they  fall ;  if  he  had 
given  us  a  prophet  as  he  gave  prophets  to  the  other 
peoples,  we  should  have  been  guided  by  them  even 
as  they  were  guided."  Perhaps,  when  they  went 
their  way  from  him,  they  uttered  hard  things  about 
him,  and  it  may  well  be  that  it  was  to  such  double- 
faced  persons  that  he  spake  when  he  uttered  the 
words  of  the  sura  of  the  Slanderer : 

08 


BEDAWIN   WOMEN   FROM   THE   ENVIRONS    OF   BAALBECK.       (SYRIA.) 


70  TttE   MO/^TU  kAMADAN, 

"  Woe  unto  the  backbiter  and  the  defamer  ! 
Unto  them  who  lay  up  wealth  and  number  it, 
Who  think  that  riches  will  make  them  to  stay  forever  ! 
Nay  !     They  shall  be  hurled  into  the  Fire  that  Splitteth. 
What  shall. make  them  understand  what  the  Fire  that  Splitteth  is  ? 
It  is  the  fire  kindled  of  Allah, 
Which  flameth  above  the  hearts, 
Verily,  it  shall  be  as  arches   above  them. 
As  arches  upon  lofty  columns  !  " 

— Sura  civ. 

Was  it  not  to  such,  also,  that  he  exclaimed  ? — 

'*  Surely  we  have  created  man  in  trouble  ; 

Doth  he  indeed  think  nought  can  prevail  against  him  ? 

He  saith,    '  I  have  wasted  much  wealth.' 

Doth  he  think  that  none  seeth  him  ? 

Have  we  not  made  him  two  eyes,  a  tongue,  and  two  lips. 

And  shown  him  the  two  roads  ? 

Yet  he  attempteth  not  the  ascent. 

What  shall  make  thee  know  what  the  proof  is  ? 

It  is  to  free  the  captive, 

Giving  food  in  famine 

To  the  orphan  near  of  kin. 

Or  to  the  poor  lying  in  the  dust  ; 
It  is  to  join  with  the  believers 
To  stir  one  another  to  patience,  and  to  encourage  one  another  to 

compassion. 
These  shall  sit  on  the  right  hand  : 

They  who  misbelieve  our  signs  shall  be  on  the  left  hand. 
Above  them  shall  the  flames  arch  ! " 

— Sura    xc. 

The  name  of  the  month  Ramadan,  the  annual 
period  of  fasting  and  prayer,  signified  originally  a 
time  of  great  heat;  but  the  Arabian  year  was  divided 
into  lunar  months,  and  there  having  been  no  allow- 
ance for  the  fact  that  twelve  of  them  do  not  corre- 


THE  BLESSED  NIGHT  AL  KADAR,  7 1 

spond  with  a  revolution  of  the  sun,  they  gradually 
lost  their  proper  positions  in  the  solar  year,  and  at 
the  time  which  we  are  now  considering,  Ramadan, 
instead  of  coming  at  the  period  of  great  heat,  corre- 
sponded with  portions  of  December  and  January. 
When  it  fell  on  the  long  summer  days,  the  fast  was 
excessively  severe  in  such  a  climate. 

Mohammed  was  now  at  the  mature  age  of  near 
forty  years.  We  have  come  to  the  month  of  De- 
cember in  the  year  6io  of  our  era.  He  was  wander- 
ing over  the  wild  but  fascinating  hills,  for  it  was  the 
sacred  month,  though  most  of  it  had  indeed  passed.* 
The  strain  of  the  long  vigil  was  nearly  over,  but  its 
effects  were  at  their  highest ;  he  was  ready  for  im- 
pressions. It  was  the  "blessed  night  Al  Kadar,"  of 
which  the  Koran  says: 

What  shall  make  thee  understand  how  excellent  the  nighty 

Al  Kadar  is  ? 
The  night  Al  Kadar  is  better  than  a  thousand  months  ! 
Therein  do  the  angels  descend, 

And  the  spirit  also, 
By  permission  of  their  Lord, 
With  his  decrees  concerning  all  matters, 
It  bringeth  peace  until  the  rosy  dawn  ! 

— Sura  xcvii. 

The  name  Al  Kadar  signifies  ''power,"  "honor," 
"  dignity,"  and  also  "  the  divine  decree,"  for  it  is  on 
that  night  that  (according  to  tradition)  the  decrees 
for  the   ensuing  year  are   annually  settled,  or,  per- 

*  This  was  the  year  in  which  Heraclius  went  from  Alexandria  to 
Constantinople,  slew  Phocas,  the  usurper,  and  placed  himself  upon 
the  throne  of  the  Roman  empire. 


72  THE  MONTH  RAMADAN. 

haps,  merely  taken  from  the  table  before  the  throne 
of  Allah,  and  given  to  the  angels  to  be  executed. 
At  midnight  Mohammed  awoke  and  thought  he 
heard  a  voice.  Twice  was  it  repeated,  and  twice 
he  made  efforts  to  avoid  hearing  it,  but  it  could  not 
be  ignored  ;  he  felt  as  if  a  fearful  weight  were  upon 
him,  and  as  though  his  last  moment  had  arrived. 
A  third  time  he  heard  the  sound,  and  could  not  stop 
his  ears  against  it.  Now  there  came  audible  words 
from  the  sky,  addressed  to  him  by  an  angel  in  bright 
apparel,  whom  his  imagination  showed  him. 

'^  O  Mohammed,  I  am  Gabriel  !  " 

Terrified  at  this  apparition,  for  it  was  new  to  him, 
though  he  had  often  before  heard  voices,  he  hastened 
to  Kadija,  his  ever  constant  comforter  in  trouble, 
and  exclaimed  :  "  I  have  ever  truly  abhorred  those 
who  hold  communication  with  jinns,  and,  lo,  now  I 
fear  that  I  am  to  become  a  soothsayer  myself!  "  A 
great  trembling  came  upon  him,  and  the  perspiration 
ran  down  to  his  feet. 

""  Never,  O  father  of  Kasim  !  "  she  replied,  ''  Allah 
will  not  allow  his  servant  to  fall  ";  and  she  hastened 
to  let  Waraka  know  what  she  had  heard. 

'*  Allah  be  praised  !  "  cried  the  old  man  ;  *'  the  son 
of  Abdalla  speaks  the  truth  ;  this  is  the  beginning  of 
prophecy ;  there  shall  come  unto  Mohammed  the 
great  Law,  like  unto  the  law  of  Moses  ;  charge  him  to 
keep  hope  in  his  heart ;   I  will  stand  by  him  !  " 

Whether  during  the  first  interview  or  at  another 
— it  is  not  quite  certain — Gabriel  said,  holding  up 
a  broad  piece  of  silken  stuff  covered  with  written 
characters : 


K\M 


\<^>^  * ..  ->": 


74  THE  MONTH  RAMADAN. 

'  Cry  !  in  the  name  of  Allah  ! 
In  the  name  of  Allah  who  hath  created, — 
Who  hath  created  man  of  thick  blood  !  "  * 

"  But  I  cannot  read,"  cried  the  trembling- father  of 
Kasim,"  **  I  am  a  man  untaught." 

"  Cr}^' !  "  repeated  the  heavenly  visitor, — 

' '  Cry,  by  the  most  beneficent  Allah, 
"Who  taught  the  pen  to  write, 
Who  taught  man  what  he  knev/  not  ! 
Verily,  verily,  man  is  rebellious  ; 
Is  insolent,  because  he  groweth  in  riches. 
Truly  unto  Allah  is  the  return  of  all  ! 
What  of  him  who  holdeth  back, 
Who  forbiddeth  a  servant  when  he  prayeth? 
What  of  him  ?     Doth  he  follow  right, 
Or  command  unto  piety  ? 

Dost  not  see  that  he  rejecteth  truth  and  turneth  back  ? 
Doth  he  not  know  that  Allah  seeth  ? 
Verily,  verily,  if  he  desist  not,  we  will  drag  him  by  the 

forelock, 
The  lying,  sinful  forelock. 
Let  him  call  his  assembly  ; 
We  will  call  the  guards  of  the  Abyss  ! 
Nay,  obey  him  not,  but  adore  and  draw  nigh  !  " 

— Szira  xcvi. 

Despite  the  assurances  of  Waraka,  Mohammed 
was  filled  with  doubts  and  perplexities  ;  he  had  been 

*  The  principal  words  bear  a  striking  identity  with  those  in  Isaiah, 
the  fortieth  chapter :  "  The  voice  of  one  saying  '  Cry  !  '  and  one  said 
'  What  shall  I  cry  ?  '  "  The  word  "  cry,"  says  Emanuel  Deutsch,  "  is 
one  of  those  very  few  onomatopoetic  words  still  common  to  both 
Semitic  and  Indo-European."  Its  significations  range  from  the 
vague  sound  of  a  bird  or  a  tree  to  the  silent  weeping  of  a  person  ; 
the  crying  of  "  deep  unto  deep  ;  "  the  weird  "  sc/irez  "  of  the  Ger- 
mans ;  the  technical  "  reading  of  the  Scriptures,"  in  Aramaic  ;  and 
even  the  solemn  proclamation  of  a  Greek  herald.  From  it  is  derived 
Koran,  the  reading. 


• '  A  klSlL  A  Nb  PRE  A  Cl/.r'  75 

spoken  to  by  Gabriel,  and  felt  as  though  a  book  had 
been  written  in  his  heart,  but  he  was  not  sure  that 
his  mission  was  to  preach  ;  besides,  certain  of  the 
Koreishites  reviled  him.  In  this  condition  of  per- 
plexity he  sought  the  weird  mountain,  intent  on 
self-destruction,  but  at  every  attempt  he  was  re- 
strained, and  he  sat  wrapped  in  his  mantle  or  rug, 
after  the  Eastern  fashion,  when  the  angel  again  ap- 
peared.    He  said  : 

"  O  thou  that  art  covered  ! 
Arise  and  preach, 
And  magnify  Allah  ! 

Purify  thy  garments, 
And  shun  abominations  ! 
Grant  not  favors  for  increase  ; 
Wait  patiently  for  Allah. 
"When  the  trump  shall  blow  shall  be  distress  for  misbelievers  ! '  " 

— Sura  Ixxiv. 

Now,  Mohammed  had,  he  thought,  been  in  direct 
communication  with  the  messenger  of  Allah  ;  he 
had  distinctly  been  commissioned  to  preach ;  had 
been  told  what  to  say,  and  had  been  assured  that  he 
was  the  Prophet  of  the  Most  High.  There  was  no 
more  to  be  uncertainty  nor  trembling  on  his  part ; 
''  Thus  saith  Allah  !  "  was  henceforth  to  be  his  cry. 
Did  he  reflect  upon  the  apparent  hopelessness  of  his 
mission  ?  He  was  to  tell  a  nation  of  idolaters,  a  na- 
tion that  held  in  honor  hundreds  of  idols,  and  pre- 
served their  images  on  their  altars,  that  there  was 
one  God,  and  only  one.  If  he  stopped  to  think,  he 
must  have  deemed  it  hopelessly  impracticable.  No 
one,  surely,  would  listen,  even  to  "the  faithful  one," 
bringing    such    a   message.     True,    there  were   four 


^6  THE  MONTH  RAMAbAN, 

seekers,  but  of  them  one  had  been  murdered,  and 
one  had  found  a  religion  of  different  character. 
They  afforded  very  little  ground  for  hope ;  but  the 
true  reformer  does  not  ask  much  encouragement. 

He  rose  superior  to  all  his  trembling  forebodings 
and  exultantly  cried : 

*'  By  the  splendor  of  midday  ! 

By  the  stilly  night  ! 
The  Lord  hath  not  forsaken  thee, 

Neither  doth  He  hate  thee  ? 
Verily  the  life  to  come  shall  be  better  than  the  past  1 

In  the  end  Allah  shalt  award  thee, 

And  thou  shalt  be  pleased. 
Did  He  not  find  thee  an  orphan,  and  give  thee  a  home  ? 

Find  thee  erring,  and  guide  thee  ? 

He  found  thee  poor  and  made  thee  rich. 
Wherefore  oppress  not  the  orphan, 

Nor  repel  the  beggar, 
But  declare  the  great  bounty  of  Allah  ! " 

— Sura  xcih. 

The  new  prophet  did  not  seem  to  have  any  ulterior 
objects  in  his  mind  as  he  entered  upon  his  mission; 
fasting  and  prayer  it  had  begun  with  ;  and  faith  was 
strong  in  his  mind  that  Allah  would  in  due  time  give 
his  blessing.  He  did  not  hasten  to  make  converts 
from  idol  worship  ;  neither  did  he  hesitate  to  stand 
firmly  for  the  principles  that  he  had  accepted. 
Still  he  went  to  the  mountains  and  the  dark  valleys 
to  make  his  prayers  and  hold  his  fasts;  and  in  one 
of  these  lonesome  retreats  he  was  one  day  encoun- 
tered by  his  uncle,  Abu  Talib. 

"What  calls  you  here,"  asked  the  uncle,  "and 
what  religion  do  you  profess?" 

"  I  profess  the  religion  of  Allah,  of  his  angels,  of 


ABU  T A  LIB'S  PROMISE.  77 

his  prophets,"  repHed  the  son  of  Abdalla — "  the 
religion  of  Abraham.  Allah  has  commissioned  me 
to  preach  this  to  men,  and  to  urge  them  to  embrace 
it.  Naught  would  be  more  worthy  of  thee,  O  my 
uncle,  than  to  adopt  the  true  faith,  and  to  help  me 
to  spread  it." 

"  Son  of  my  brother,"  replied  Abu  Talib,  ''  I  can 
never  abjure  the  faith  of  my  ancestors  ;  but  if  thou 
art  attacked  I  will  defend  thee."  Then,  turning  to 
Ali,  his  son,  he  added  :  "  Mohammed  will  never  lead 
thee  into  any  wrong  way  ;  hesitate  not  to  follow  any 
advice  he  giveth." 


IX. 

A   PROPHET   WITH    LITTLE   HONOR. 

History  is  crowded  with  wrecks  of  systems  of 
religion  which  have  been  outgrown  by  mankind. 
The  career  of  the  prophet  is  never  an  easy  one ;  he 
may  pipe,  but  his  audience  may  refuse  to  keep  time 
to  the  march  he  entunes.  It  is  comparatively  easy 
to  make  good  and  far-reaching  plans,  but  more  dififi- 
cult  to  carry  them  out.  Least  of  all  is  it  easy  for  a 
prophet  to  gain  a  hearing  in  his  own  country  and 
among  his  own  kin  ;  among  those  who  have  known 
him  as  a  child,  as  a  boy,  as  a  growing  young  man, 
and  finally  as  a  man,  liable  to  the  inconsistencies  of 
a  man,  to  the  irregularities  of  a  man,  to  the  failures 
to  which  humanity  is  ever  exposed.  Yet  this,  all  of 
this,  is  what  Mohammed,  the  unlearned  Arabian,  the 
camel-driver  of  the  widow  Kadija,  attempted.  He, 
who  perhaps  could  not  write  his  own  name,  set  him- 
self up  not  only  as  a  teacher,  but  as  the  only  teach  .-r 
who  was  to  be  listened  to  in  the  most  important  m  t- 
ter  that  concerns  humanity,  in  the  regulation  of  its 
loftiest  duties — its  duties  to  the  Most  High  Go  1. 
Was  this  not  either  the  sublimest  impudence,  or  th.; 
most  wonderful  faith? 

His  effort,  if  successful,  promised  to  break  down 


WHAT    WOULD  RESULT.  79 

the  commercial  importance  of  his  native  city,  to  sap 
the  fountain  from  which  his  own  tribe  derived  its 
wealth  and  importance.  He  would  put  a  stop  to 
the.  worship  of  the  three  hundred  and  sixty-five 
deities  of  the  Kaaba;  turn  away  the  thousands  of 
pilgrims  that  adored  them  ;  dry  up  the  demand  that 
for  so  many  years  had  been  supplied  by  the  Koreish- 
ites  to  the  innumerable  caravans  which  threaded 
their  devious  ways  among  the  wadies  and  over  the 
deserts  from  Hadramawt  and  Akaba,  from  Nejd 
and  Yemen,  toward  the  house  of  the  sacred  black 
stone  that  had  fallen  from  heaven  in  the  days  of  the 
fathers.  It  did  not  require  the  wisdom  of  the  seer 
to  know  that  every  Koreishite  must,  of  necessity,  be 
opposed  to  such  a  movement,  and  opposed  to  it  to 
the  death  ;  they  would  be  ready  to  cry,  in  the  spirit 
of  the  silversmiths  of  Ephesus,  "  Great  is  the  Kaaba 
of  Mecca ! "  for  it  brought  no  small  business  unto 
them."^  The  worship  of  the  Kaaba  was  intrenched 
not  only  behind  the  religious  sentiments  of  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  men  on  the  Arabian  peninsula,  but 
also  behind  the  mercantile  interests  of  the  entire 
tribe  of  the  Koreishites  and  of  all  those  who  earned 
their  honest  living  in   Mecca,   no   less  than  in  the 

*  Sir  William  Muir  naturally  thinks  also  of  the  tumult  at  Ephesus, 
and  says,  in  this  connection,  "  There  was  no  antagonism  of  a  privi- 
leged class  or  of  a  priesthood  supported  by  the  temple  ;  no  '  crafts- 
men of  Diana '  deriving  their  livelihood  from  the  shrine  ;  but  there 
vi^as  the  strong  hereditary  affection  for  practices  associated  from 
infancy  with  the  daily  life  of  every  inhabitant  of  Mecca,  and 
patriotic  devotion  to  a  system  which  made  his  city  the  foremost  in 
Arabia.  These  advantages  he  would  not  lightly  abandon." — "The 
Life  of  Mohammed"  (ed.  1876),  page  67. 


80  A    PROPHET    WITH  LITTLE   HONOR. 

interests  of  those  along  the  Hne  followed  by  the 
caravans  for  thousands  of  oiiles,  who  furnished  them 
supplies  and  cover. 

Kadija  was  ready  to  give  allegiance  to  the  faith 
that  her  husband  preached,  as  she  always  was  to 
afford  him  her  countenance  and  support.  We  have 
seen  that  the  aged  Waraka  was  likewise  prepared  to 
accept  all  that  Mohammed  declared.  These  two, 
therefore,  became  the  nucleus  of  a  new  religion  that 
was  afterwards  known  as  Islam,  the  doctrine  of  the 
just  man  (Moslem),  of  the  striver  after  righteousness, 
the  doctrine  of  complete  submission  to  the  will  of 
Allah.  It  was  not  long  after  Kadija  had  communi- 
cated to  her  husband  the  words  of  Waraka  that  he 
came  to  the  city  from  his  retreat  on  the  mountain- 
top,  and  his  first  duty  was  to  make  the  tawaf,  or 
seven-fold  circuit  of  the  Kaaba.  In  doing  this  he  en- 
countered Waraka,  to  whom  he  gave  additional  de- 
tails regarding  his  vision,  and  the  aged  man  repeated 
to  him  the  assurance  that  he  was  to  be  the  prophet 
of  his  nation,  warning  him  at  the  same  tiine  of  the 
persecutions  that  he  would  inevitably  be  called  to 
suffer.  Waraka  died  soon  afterwards,  during  a  con- 
versation with  Mohammed. 

The  prophet  now  received  more  frequent  revela- 
tions through  the  angel  Gabriel ;  his  faith  in  the  one 
God  became  firmer,  and  he  boldly  determined  to  en- 
dure all  the  troubles  and  dangers  that  might  be 
necessary  in  announcing  the  divine  will  to  mankind. 
To  Kadija  he  fully  repeated  all  the  revelations  of 
Gabriel,  and  she  began  immediately  to  practise  the 
rites   that    were   afterwards   characteristic   of   Islam 


THE  FIRST  CONVERTS.  8 1 

Her  consolation  and  advice  sustained  him  when 
called  to  bear  the  railleries  and  rebuffs  of  his  country- 
men. 

Gradually  and  in  mysterious  words  he  communi- 
cated to  a  chosen  few  the  same  particulars,  Ali,  the 
little  son  of  Abu  Talib,  being  naturally  among  the 
first  so  trusted.  He  was  only  about  eleven  years 
old,  but  apparently  of  maturity  beyond  his  years, 
and  he  became  the  companion  of  Mohammed  when 
he  went  on  his  solitary  visits  to  the  neighboring  hills 
and  valleys,  praying  with  him  and  imitating  his 
actions.  After  Ali,  Zeyd,  a  freedman  whom  Mo- 
hammed had  adopted  as  son,  became  a  member  of 
the  new  body,  and  then  there  was  a  still  more  im- 
portant conquest.  One  Abd  el  Kaba,  instructed  in 
the  pedigree  of  the  Koreishites,  who  exercised  a  sort 
of  magistracy  among  them,  and  was  wise  in  the  in- 
terpretation of  dreams,  embraced  the  faith,  and  be- 
gan with  fervor  the  work  of  making  converts.  For 
a  reason  which  will  be  mentioned,  this  important 
man  is  better  known  as  Abu  Bekr,  a  title  which  has 
been  interpreted  to  mean  the  Father  of  the  Virgin. 

These  and  a  few  others  professed  faith  in  one 
God;  in  rewards  for  the  good  and  punishments  for 
the  evil  in  a  future  life  ;  in  Mohammed  as  the  prophet 
whom  they  were  bound  to  obey ;  they  practised 
purifications  by  water,  and  they  prayed  after  forms 
prescribed.  They  looked  upon  Islam  as  not  at  all  a 
new  religion,  but  as  a  revival  of  the  ancient  faith  of 
Abraham,  and  believed  that  the  knowledge  Mo- 
hammed had  about  it  was  derived  directly  from 
Allah.      This    knowledge,    when    written    down    or 


A'SO^ 


32  A    PROPHET    WITH  LITTLE   HONOR. 

committed  to  memory,  as  it  was  proclaimed  by  the 
prophet,  was  known  as  Al  Koran,  the  Reading,  or 
the  Recitation. 

For  some  three  years  the  faith  was  professed  in 
comparative  secrecy,  but  then  Mohammed  deter- 
mined to  give  to  the  members  of  his  tribe  generally 
the  good  news  that  he  had  up  to  that  time  commu- 
nicated to  the  few.  It  is  sometimes  said  that  this 
change  of  method  was  in  pursuance  of  a  divine  mes- 
sage couched  in  these  words  :  * 

Invoke  no  other  god  with  Allah, 

Lest  thou  be  of  the  tormented. 

Utter  warnings  to  thy  near  kinsfolk, 

And  lower  thy  wing  [be  meek]  to  the  faithful  who  follow  thee. 

If  they  prove  disobedient,  say, 

'*'  Verily,  I  am  clear  of  what  ye  do  !  " 

Rely  thou  upon  the  Mighty,  Merciful  One, 

Who  seeth  thee  when  thou  risest  up, 

And  when  thou  fallest  among  the  worshippers, 

Verily,  he  both  heareth  and  knoweth  !  — Sura  xxvi. 

For  the  purpose  of  enlarging  his  influence,  Moham- 
med, according  to  tradition,  now  invited  the  Ko- 
reishites  to  a  repast, f  after  which  he  addressed  them, 
saying :  "  Never  has  an  Arab  offered  to  his  people 
such  precious  advantages  as  I  now  present  to  you — 
happiness  in  this  life  and  joys  forever  in  the  world 
to  come.  Allah  has  commisioned  me  to  call  men  to 
him  ;  who  among  you  will  join  me  in  the  sacred  work, 
and  become  my  brother,  my  kalif  ?  " 

*  The  sura  of  which  this  is  but  a  small  fragment  is  now,  however, 
considered  a  later  revelation. 

f  Muir  treats  this  feast  as  "  apocryphal,"  but  Caussin  de  Perceval, 
following  Abulfeda  and  Desvergers,  gives  the  details  substantially 
as  above,  without  qualification. — Histoite  des  Arabes,  i.,  360-362. 


A  LI  PROMISES   SUPPORT,  83 

A  profound  silence  fell  upon  the  whole  assembly, 
until  Ali,  the  youngest  of  them  all,  cried  out  with 
zeal :  "  I,  prophet  of  Allah,  I  will  join  you  !  " 

Mohamircd  embraced  Ali,  and  said  :  ''  Behold  my 
brother — my  kalif ;  my  commissioner.  Listen  to 
him;    obey  his    commands!" 

A  smile  ran  through  the  assembly  as  they  wit- 
nessed the  boyish  enthusiasm  of  the  young  man, 
and  the  kinsfolk  withdrew,  making  light  of  the 
whole  transaction.  They  told  Abu  Talib  that  he 
would  have  to  obey  the  orders  of  his  son, — the 
height  of  absurdity.  Mohammed  was  not  at  all 
daunted  by  his  want  of  success  in  this  semi-public 
effort ;  he  continued  to  urge  his  relatives  to  embrace 
Islam,  though  without  much  greater  effect.  Soon 
he  became  bolder,  and  began  to  preach  with  no  un- 
certain voice  the  truth  that  the  divinities  of  the 
Kaaba  were  nothing  but  senseless  wood  and 
stones,  and  then  stubborn  and  bitter  opposition 
took  the  place  of  pleasantry.  The  Meccans  came 
out  with  zeal  in  support  of  the  religion  of  centuries; 
they  railed  at  the  innovator  and  demanded  that  he 
should  be  silenced.  At  first  they  merely  pointed  at 
the  would-be  prophet  the  finger  of  scorn,  saying: 
''  There  goeth  the  son  of  Abdalla  who  speaketh 
about  the  heavens!"  When  converts  were  made 
and  they  began  to  follow  their  leader's  habit  of 
retiring  to  the  wilds  for  prayer — when  it  seemed 
as  though  something  might  possibly  come  of  the 
preaching,  then  the  unbelievers  followed  the  faith- 
ful to  these  mountain  passes  and  even  attacked 
them  ;    and   thus  it  was  that   a  camel-goad   in   the 


84  .  A   PROPHET    WITH  LITTLE   HONOR. 

hand   of    a    disciple   of    Mohammed   drew   the    first 
blood  that  was  shed  in   Islam. 

Mohammed  seemed  to  be  safe  under  the  protec- 
tion of  Abu  Talib,  and  therefore  a  delegation 
of  the  tribe  of  Koreish  appealed  to  him,  saying: 
''The  son  of  thy  brother  asperses  our  religion. 
He  accuses  our  wise  men  of  folly — our  ancestors 
of  errors  and  impiety.  As  thou  hast  not  embraced 
his  impious  faith,  permit  us,  we  pray  thee,  to  exter- 
minate it  and  punish  him  for  so  audaciously  attack- 
ing a  religion  which  is  thine  as  well  as  ours." 

To  this  demand  Abu  Talib  gave  a  courteous 
but  firm  refusal,  and  it  was  followed  by  another 
appeal.  A  second  time  the  dignitaries  of  the  tribe 
came  to  the  aged  man,  and  said :  "  We  respect, 
as  in  duty  bound,  thy  age,  thy  personal  nobility, 
and  thy  rank;  but  there  is  a  limit.  We  have 
asked  thee  to  shut  the  mouth  of  thy  nephew 
and  thou  hast  not  done  it.  We  can  no  longer 
submit  to  these  outrages  upon  our  fathers,  our 
wise  men,  and  our  gods.  Cause  Mohammed  to 
hold  his  peace  or  we  will  take  up  arms  against  thee 
as  well  as  against  him  ;  and  we  shall  fight  until  our 
party  or  thine  is  exterminated  !  "  So  saying,  they 
withdrew. 
^  Abu  Talib,  now  alarmed,  sought  his  nephew,  and 
said :  ''  Deliver  us  from  the  evils  that  hang  over 
thee  and  over  our  family." 

"O  my  uncle,"  replied  Mohammed,  "should  the 
sun  descend  upon  my  right  hand  and  the  moon  on 
my  left  to  fight  against  me,  and  should  the  alterna- 
tive be  presented  to  me  of  renouncing  my  mission  or 


ABU   TALIB'S   SECOND  PROMISE. 


85 


of  perishing  in  accomplishing  it,  I  would  not  waver 
from  my  purpose  !  " 

So  saying,  overcome  by  the  thought  that  he  was 
to  be  abandoned  by  his  beloved  relative,  he  turned 
away  with  eyes  filled  with  tears. 

*'  Come  back,  O  my  nephew  !  "  exclaimed  the  old 
man,   in   turn   broken   down   by  emotion ;    "  preach 


THE    KAABA,  SHOWING  MODERN    PILGRIMS, 


whatever  doctrine  thou  wilt.     I  swear  to  thee  that 
not  for  a  moment  will  I  desert  thy  side  1  " 

The  opposition  did  not  end  here;  though,  as  the 
sacred  period  of  the  year  was  approaching,  hostilities 
were  postponed  for  awhile.  It  was  at  about  this  time 
that  Mohammed  first  occupied  a  building  facing  the 
Kaaba  belonging  to  a  convert  named  Arkam,  before 


86  A    PROPHET    WITH  LITTLE   HONOR. 

which  the  pilgrims  were  obHged  to  pass  in  the  course 
of  their  orthodox  devotions.  It  became  the  meet- 
ing-house— the  preaching  station.  There  the  doc- 
trines of  the  new  faith  were  expounded  and  many 
converts  were  made,  so  that  the  place  was  called  in 
after  times  "The  House  of  Islam." 

At  this  period  Mohammed  was  very  desirous  of 
engaging  the  influential  members  of  the  community 
on  his  side,  and  it  is  related  that  as  he  was  once  en- 
grossed in  conversation  with  one  of  this  class,  a 
blind  man  came  to  him, saying:  "  O  apostle  of  Allah, 
teach  me  some  part  of  that  which  Allah  hath  taught 
thee."  In  the  earnestness  of  his  desire  to  enlist  the 
rich  man,  he  was  disturbed  by  the  importunity  of  the 
poor  one,  and  turned  away  with  a  frown.  A  repri- 
mand was  conveyed  to  him  for  his  respect  of  persons 
in  one  of  the  suras: 

[The  prophet]  frowned  and  turned  hi?  back 

Because  the  blind  man  importuned  : 

And  what  shall  tell  thee  if  perchance  he  may  be  purified. 

Or  may  be  admonished  and  profited  ? 

Thou  dost  attend  on  the  rich, 

And  carest  not  for  his  cleansing  ; 

But  thou  turnest  from  the  earnest  one 

Coming  in  the  fear  of  Allah. 

By  no  means  !  — Sura  Ixxx. 

Mohammed  ever  after  looked  upon  the  blind  man 
with  great  respect,  and  whenever  he  saw  him  he  was 
accustomed  to  say :  "  Welcome  to  him  on  v/hose 
account  Allah  reproved  me  !  " 


^M 

5^L 

^^^ 

1^^^ 

1  \Mf  j^j^'Ik^ 
1  i\r  ^  1 

^^~*^ •   iITyn  / 

*<  ■'"          '^if*^^i'-s^  (f  It- 

//^^^             ^dfJLlljj    \ 

h^^\fe/r 

V^^^^^^iL^N^  nSiiw 

T'^U  iC^r^m 

1  [h^^^^Jj 

^l/^^ii  ^WL     IW 

1  ^  *J  ' 

^^K^'  i=^  is.  &^  t,m    IM 

^  ff^B  W    ^^^1,              \i| 

4^%^ 

^^^^ 

^^^^^ 

^^^^^^ 

FUGITIVES    IN   A    STRANGE    LAND. 

The  crowds  that  regularly  came  to  worship  at  the 
Kaaba  were  now  beginning  to  gather,  and  the  oppo- 
nents of  Mohammed  consulted  as  to  how  they  should 
reply  to  the  enquiries  of  strangers  about  the 
"prophet  "  of  whom  they  had  heard. 

"  Let  us  tell  them  that  he  is  a  seer,"  said  one. 

"  No,"  promptly  replied  another,  ''  he  has  none  of 
the  abrupt  and  emphatic  tone  of  the  seer,  neither 
does  he  utter  his  sentences  in  their  rhythmical  style." 

''  Shall  we  pronounce  him  a  fool  ?  " 

*'  No,  his  appearance  would  belie  us." 

''  That  he  is  a  poet  inspired  by  an  evil  jinn  ?" 

''  He  ignores  the  language  of  poetry." 

'*  Shall  we  call  him  a  magician  !  " 

"  He  does  naught  supernatural  ;  he  pretends  to  no 
miracle  nor  magic  art." 

"  Nay,  verily,  his  art  is  simply  the  use  of  able 
words  and  of  an  insinuating  manner." 

''  But  we  must  give  some  explanation  ;  we  can 
only  say  that  he  is  a  new  magician  possessed  of 
unknown  charms,  by  which  he  brings  discord  into 
the  family,  separates  brother  from  brother,  son  from 
father,  and  wife  from  husband." 


88  FUGITIVES  IN  A    STRANGE  LAND. 

This,  then,  was  to  be  the  policy  of  the  opponents 
of  the  rising  delusion,  as  these  men  desired  to  consi- 
der the  doctrines  held  by  the  little  band  protected 
by  Abu  Talib.  They  posted  themselves  on  the 
roads  converging  at  Mecca  ;  engaged  in  conversation 
with  the  faithful  going  to  the  Kaaba  ;  insinuated 
themselves  into  their  confidence,  and  Avarned  them 
to  beware  of  the  father  of  Kasim,  whom  they  de- 
scribed as  a  dangerous  magician  who  might  do  them 
the  utmost  harm.  Thus  they  frightened  some,  but, 
to  their  discomfiture,  excited  curiosity  in  the  minds 
of  a  larger  number.  The  result  was  that  when  the 
devout  pilgrims  returned  to  their  homes,  they  carried 
to  the  remotest  corner  of  the  peninsula  the  marvel- 
lous stories  of  Mohammed,  the  rising  prophet,  the 
magician  whom  no  one  could  understand.  The  new 
movement  became  the  staple  of  neighborhood  gos- 
sip and  of  curious  enquiry  everywhere,  and  pene- 
trated regions  to  which  no  direct  effort  of  Moham- 
med could  have  carried  it  in  many  laborious  years. 

The  interestwas  still  more  increased  by  Abu  Talib, 
who  published  in  verse  his  complaints  against  the 
Koreishites  who,  in  their  hatred  of  one  of  its  sons, 
had  forgotten  the  rights  of  the  illustrious  house  of 
Hashim.  He  vaunted  the  virtues  of  Mohammed; 
painted  him  as  the  friend  of  the  widow  and  the 
orphan,  and  said  : 

"  You  lie,  if  you  say  that  we  will  let  the  blood  of 
Mohammed  flow  without  bringing  to  the  struggle 
our  bows  and  our  lances  ;  and  I  swear  it  by  the  holy 
Kaaba  ! 

**  If  you   say   tbit   we  will  abandon  him   without 


MEDINA    COUNSELS  PEACE.  89 

strewing  the  ground  with  our  corpses,  yea  with  the 
bodies  of  our  wives  and  of  our  children  !  " 

When  the  threatening  news  that  fratricidal  war 
was  imminent,  reached  Medina,  then  called  Yathrib, 
wise  counsels  of  peace  were  sent  to  Mecca. 

"  Beware  of  discord,"  the  writer  said,  '*  thrust  from 
you  the  vase  of  which  the  water  is  bitter  and  danger- 
ous !  Remind  yourselves  of  the  horrors  of  past  wars 
among  us ;  he  who  writes  to  you  knows  but  too 
well  the  horrors  of  those  sad  scenes ;  knowledge  is 
the  fruit  of  experience. 

''  An  honorable  man  has  adopted  certain  beliefs  ; 
to  Allah  only  belongs  the  right  to  judge  the  con- 
science. 

"  Continue  to  practise  the  true  religion  ;  our  eyes 
are  fixed  upon  you. ; 

^'  Worship  Allah  and  purify  yourselves  by  confi- 
dence in  the  corner-stone  upon  which  the  mountains 
around  you  rest. 

"  Did  not  Allah  give  you  a  token  of  his  great 
power  in  the  day  when  Abraha  was  driven  back 
from  your  very  gates  without  your  aid  ?  " 

Such  counsel  had  some  effect,  but  it  did  not  re- 
strain the  envious  Koreishites  from  giving  vent  to 
their  feelings  as  they  encountered  the  prophet  in 
the  streets,  and  he  was  often  saluted  with  bitter  and 
insulting  words,  besides  suffering  personal  injuries. 
These  violences  and  petty  exhibitions  of  spite,  led  to 
a  reaction  in  the  case  of  an  adversary  as  deter- 
mined as  any  that  Mohammed  ever  had.  On  re- 
turning from  the  chase  one  day,  Hamza,  who  was 
uncle  to  the  prophet,  heard  of  a  new  insult,  and  on 


90  FUGITIVES  IN  A   STRANGE  LAND. 

the  moment  he  repaired  to  the  Kaaba  and  to  the 
astonishment  of  all,  presented  himself  as  the  cham- 
pion of  the  prophet.  Advancing  to  the  midst  of  an 
excited  group,  he  exclaimed,  "  Hold  !  I  am  of  the  new 
religion  !  Return  tJiat^  if  you  dare  !  "  at  the  same 
time  striking  one  of  the  company  a  vigorous  blow 
with  the  bow  that  he  had  not  yet  had  time  to  lay 
down.  The  blow  was  not  returned.  Hamza,  after- 
wards known  as  the  Lion  of  Allah,  continued  one  of 
the  most  proud  and  energetic  among  the  partisans  of 
Mohammed,  and  the  cowed  Koreishites  began  to 
treat  the  prophet  with  outward  respect. 

Temptation  was  their  next  resort.  Some  of  the 
chiefs  came  to  Mohammed  ;  one  of  them  took  a 
seat  by  his  side,  and  began  with  the  following  words 
to  test  the  strength  of  his  faith  : 

''  Son  of  my  friend,  though  thou  art  a  man  distin- 
guished by  birth,  thou  dost  stir  up  the  land :  thou 
makest  division  in  families ;  thou  castest  reproach 
upon  our  gods ;  thou  hast  taxed  our  ancestors  and 
our  wise  men  with  errors  and  impiety  :  but  we  wish 
to  treat  thee  with  consideration  and  moderation. 
Listen  to  the  proposals  we  have  to  make,  and  reflect 
if  it  would  not  be  well  for  thee  to  accept  one  of  them." 

''Speak  on,"  said  Mohammed,  ''  I  listen." 

''  Son  of  my  friend,"  the  other  began,  ''  be  it  thy 
aim  to  acquire  wealth  by  this  thy  strange  conduct, 
we  will  assess  ourselves  to  make  thee  the  richest 
man  of  the  house  of  our  father  Koreish  ;  if  it  be 
honor  that  thou  desirest  we  will  make  thee  our  lord, 
and  will  plan  nothing  without  thy  advice  ;  if  it  be  an 
evil  jinn  that  dominateth  thee,  we  will  bring  to  thee 


A   DISCOURSE    THAT  STRIKES  HOME.  9 1 

the  most  able  physicians,  and  we  will  pour  out  our 
gold  until  they  cure  thee." 

"  Is  it  all  ?  "  said  the  prophet. 

''Yes/* 

"  Well,  now  listen  to  me  : — 

"  In  the  name  of  Allah  the  merciful  and  compassionate  !  A  revel- 
ation from  fhe  Merciful  One  ;  a  book  whose  signs  are  explained  ;  an 
Arabic  Koran  for  a  people  who  understand  ;  a  herald  of  glad  tidings 
and  a  warning.  Most  turn  aside  and  listen  not,  and  say,  '  Our 
hearts  are  veiled  from  the  doctrine,  our  ears  are  dull,  there  is  a  cur- 
tain between  thee  and  us  :  act  thou  ;  verily  we  shall  act.'  Say,  '  I 
am  but  a  mortal  like  yourselves,  but  a  mortal  to  whom  it  has  been 
revealed  that  Allah  is  one  :  go  make  your  way  straight  to  him  ;  im- 
plore his  pardon.  Woe  to  those  who  follow  other  gods,  who  give 
not  alms,  and  reject  the  future  life." — SuraxM. 

"  Thou  hast  heard,"  said  Mohammed,  after  having 
prostrated  himself  ;  ''  choose  what  thou  wilt !  " 

Turning  to  his  companions,  the  one  who  had  ven- 
tured to  address  the  prophet  exclaimed,  "  Never  did 
man  hear  a  discourse  like  this!  It  strikes  home  ;  it 
is  not  poetry,  nor  the  language  of  the  magician.  Let 
us  leave  him  ;  let  him  work  and  persuade  whom  he 
can  ;  peradventure  some  man  of  a  strange  tribe  will 
take  him  off  for  us  ;  but  if  he  succeed,  then  his 
power  and  glory  will  be  ours  and  the  Koreishites 
will  be  remembered  in  the  land." 

"  He  has  cast  his  spell  upon  thee !  "  they  all  cried. 

''  I  tell  you  frankly  my  opinion,"  the  other  replied. 

Not  satisfied  with  this  trial,  the  men  came  a  second 
time  to  the  prophet  offering  the  same  temptations, 
and  again  they  encountered  the  same  haughty  re- 
fusal. Then  they  demanded  a  miracle, — the  enlarge- 
ment   of   their   narrow  valley,    for  example,   as  an 


92  FUGITIVES  IN  A    STRANGE  LAND. 

assurance  that  indeed  Allah  spoke  through  him  ;  but 
Mohammed  replied  :  *'  Allah  has  sent  me  to  preach 
his  law ;  I  am  fulfilling  my  mission,  and  I  tell  you 
again  it  will  be  for  your  good  in  this  world  and  in  the 
next  if  ye  accept  my  message.  If  ye  reject  my 
words,  Allah  will  be  your  judge." 

''  At  least,"  they  urged,  ask  that  an  angel  be  sent 
down  to  testify  to  thy  veracity,  and  to  command  our 
faith."  *'  No,"  persisted  Mohammed,  "-  my  duty  is 
simply  to  preach."  Never  could  they  force  him  to 
attempt  a  miracle, — that  favorite  resort  of  so  many 
false  prophets. 

"■  Well,  then,"  they  replied,  "  let  your  lord  make 
the  sky  fall  upon  us  ;  he  will  make  it  fall  upon  you, 
too,  if  he  wish.  All  that  thou  tellest  us  thou  hast 
heard  from  a  false  prophet  of  Yemen  to  whom  we 
have  never  given  ear.  Know  that  we  shall  cease  not 
to  repel  thy  attacks  upon  our  faith  until  thou  or  we 
perish  in  the  strife." 

In  pursuance  of  these  threats,  all  were  forbidden 
to  listen  to  Mohammed,  and  when  he  visited  the 
Kaaba,  the  Koreishites  took  positions  at  a  distance 
from  him.  It  was  at  this  time  that  one  Abdalla  de- 
termined to  force  them  to  hear  the  Koran  read,  and 
placing  himself  among  them  in  full  day,  he  raised 
his  voice  and  cried, 

"  In  the  name  of  Allah,  the  merciful  and  compassionate  .' 
The  merciful  one  taught  the  Koran  ; 
He  created  man, 
And  endowed  him  with  speech, 
The  sun  and  the  moon  have  their  appointed  times  ; 
Herbs  and  trees  adore  him  ; 
And  the  heavens,  he  raised  them  and  set  the  balance." 

- — Sura  ly. 


LIGHT  FROM  A   DARK  CLOUD.  93 

*'  What  is  the  fellow  reciting?"  was  the  cry. 

"  Passages  from  the  Koran  of  the  proscribed  !  '* 

These  words  were  the  signal  for  an  attack  upon 
Abdalla,  but  in  spite  of  the  blows  that  rained  upon 
his  face  and  body,  he  continued  the  recital  until  he 
was  thrown  out  of  the  holy  place. 

*'But  I  forced  them  to  hear  me !  "  he  exultantly 
cried  to  his  friends.  The  act  was  not,  however, 
likely  to  help  forward  the  cause  that  he  had  with 
so  much  intrepidity  espoused,  and  the  persecutions 
of  the  Koreishites  increased,  the  disciples  were  cru- 
elly tortured,  and  Mohammed,  cast  down  by  their 
sufferings  as  well  as  by  his  own  impotence  to  protect 
them,  encouraged  them  to  seek  an  asylum  in  Abys- 
sinia. Accordingly,  in  the  year  615,  a  number  of 
them  crossed  the  Red  Sea  and  sought  the  protec- 
tion of  the  Christian  king. 

The  intense  hatred  of  the  Koreishites  followed 
them  even  to  the  strange  land,  and  the  exiles  were 
haled  before  the  ruler  for  examination.  The  recital 
of  some  verses  of  the  Koran  affected  this  dignitary 
to  tears,  and  he  refused  to  send  the  strangers  back 
to  their  tormentors.  The  Koreishites  were  downcast 
at  this  failure,  and  still  more  did  they  lose  heart  when 
they  found  that  Omar,  a  cousin  of  Mohammed,  and 
one  of  the  most  powerful  among  the  opponents  of  the 
new  faith,  had  come  out"  as  its  equally  ardent  cham- 
pion. It  was  indeed  light  from  a  dark  cloud  to 
Mohammed,  when  this  strong  man  cried  out  in  his 
presence,  *'  Verily,  I  testify  that  thou  art  the  prophet 
of  Allah!"  and  well  might  he  exclaim  at  the  sound 
of  the  words,  "  Allahu  Akbar !  "  (''  Great  is  Allah  !  ") 


94  FUGITIVES  IN-  A    STRANGE  LAND. 

Still  the  Koreishites  remained  firm  in  their  opposi- 
tion, and  the  exiles  were  not  free  to  return  to  their 
homes.  Mohammed  was  placed  under  a  ban,  and, 
with  his  brethren  of  the  children  of  Hashim,  was 
shut  up  in  a  quarter  of  the  city.*  A  decree  was 
written  and  hung  up  on  the  walls  of  the  Kaaba 
warning  all  from  having  any  intercourse,  civil  or 
commercial,  with  the  Hashimites.  No  marriage 
was  to  be  made  with  them  ;  no  goods  were  to  be 
sold  to  them  ;  no  stuff  was  to  be  bought  of  them. 
As  the  years  ./ore  on,  the  hearts  of  the  idolaters, 
against  -  hom  the  prophet  preached,  were  moved 
to  pity  fo  the  brethren  in  distress.  From  time 
to  time  provisions  were  secretly  sent  to  them,  and 
at  last,  after  they  had  suffered  three  years,  the  ban 
was  dissolved.  It  is  said  that  it  was  found  that  the 
decree  hung  up  in  the  Kaaba  had  been  miraculously 
destroyed,  so  that  at  this  time  there  remained  only 
the  opening  words:  '*  In  the  name  of  Allah  most 
merciful ! " 

*  A  secluded  region,  known  as  the  Sheb  of  Abu  Talil).  It  was 
formed  by  one  of  the  defiles  of  the  mountains,  where  projecting 
rocks  pressed  upon  the  eastern  outskirts.  The  entrance  from  Mec- 
ca was  by  a  low  gateway,  through  which  a  camel  passed  with  diffi- 
culty. Cliffs  and  buildings  separated  it  from  the  rest  of  the  town  on 
all  other  sides.     (See  Muir's  "  Mahomet,"  p.  99.) 


XI. 

A  TWOFOLD   CORD   BROKEN. 

The  prophet  had  for  nine  years  been  offering 
the  blessings  of  Paradise  to  all  who  would  accept  his 
doctrines  and  give  up  their  idols ;  and,  though  he 
now  was  freed  from  the  ban  under  which  he  had  been 
oppressed,  his  condition  was  very  gloomy.  He 
claimed  that  his  mission  was  for  all  the  world,  and 
yet  he  failed  to  make  progress  even  at  home.  There 
were  the  strong  Hamza  and  the  valiant  Omar — but 
what  were  they  and  the  little  bana  that  they  led 
in  comparison  with  the  thousands  who  tood  aloof? 
Sad  indeed  must  have  been  Mohammed's  heart  as 
he  walked  out  into  the  freedom  of  '  i  ,  native  city 
and  reflected  upon  the  slight  progress  that  his  cause 
had  made,  despite  his  confidence  in  the  help  and 
guidance  of  Allah  al  Razid,  the  Rightly  Directing. 

During  all  these  years  of  meditation,  prayer,  fast- 
ing, and  preaching,  Kadija  had  been  the  good  angel 
of  the  prophet.  She  believed  in  him  and  in  the 
truth  of  his  revelations;  she  was  the  first  who  had 
put  her  trust  in  the  Allah  whom  he  proclaimed  ;  she 
strengthed  him  in  all  his  purposes ;  through  her  he 
believed  that  Allah  sent  him  comfort  ;  whenever 
she  heard  aught  that  was  disagreeable  or  contradic- 


9^  A    TWOFOLD    CORD  BROKEN. 

tory,  she  counselled  him  to  hope  ;  she  roused  him  in 
his  state  of  lethargy  and  made  his  burdens  light ;  she 
assured  him  that  all  the  babble  of  his  opponents 
would  come  to  naught.  Now  the  end  of  all  this 
had  arrived  ;  Kadija  died.     (End  of  the  year  619.) 

Not  only  did  this  affliction  deprive  Mohammed  of 
a  trusty  adviser,  but  it  reduced  him  to  a  condition 
of  comparative  poverty.  Islam,  also,  that  but  for 
her  might  never  have  received  its  first  inspiring  im- 
pulse, lost  in  purity,  and  the  revelations  that  were 
to  form  the  growing  Koran,  lost  in  dignity.  The  ties 
of  affection  and  interest  that  for  a  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury had  been  growing  stronger  and  stronger,  were 
in  an  instant  forever  broken.  No  wonder  that  the 
prophet,  always  open  to  accesses  of  uncontrollable 
emotion,  was  inconsolable,  and  mourned  as  one  who 
could  not  be  comforted.  Though  he  was  to  have 
many  other  wives,  he  was  never  to  forget  the  mem- 
ory of  good  Kadija,  nor  was  he  ever  to  lose  the  in- 
spiration of  her  life  ;  so  little  destructible  is  the  influ- 
ence of  a  good  woman.  The  lover  was  never  lost  in 
the  husband,  and  how  much  dearer  the  wife  was  than 
the  bride,  none  but  those  who  have  felt  a  stimulus 
such  as  she  gave  can  know. 

At  about  this  time  the  sky  was  again  darkened. 
Abu  Talib,  the  uncle,  who,  through  all  the  years 
of  obliquy,  had  stood  as  a  wall  between  Moham- 
med and  his  enemies,  was  also  taken  away.  Thus, 
spiritual  counsel  and  temporal  aid  alike  seemed  to 
be  passing  from  him  at  once.  The  chivalry  of  Abu 
Talib  in  protecting  the  prophet  when  he  did  not  be- 
lieve in  his  mission  is  remarkable,  and  it  is  a  strong 


A   MEETING  AT   TAIF.  9/ 

testimony  to  the  honesty  of  Mohammed  that  he 
could  make  such  an  impression  on  a  man  of  so 
much  force  of  character.  The  Koreishites,  under 
the  leadership  of  Abu  Sofian,  now  returned  to  their 
annoying  attacks  upon  Mohammed.  They  cast  dirt 
upon  his  head  in  the  street,  and  there  was  none  to 
take  his  part.  Converts  were  few,  and  he  saw  that 
if  some  positive  advance  were  not  promptly  made, 
idolatry  would  soon  destroy  what  little  there  was  of 
the  new  faith. 

Hopeless  as  the  outlook  at  Mecca  seemed,  Mo- 
hammed thought  that  perhaps  at  Taif  some  one 
might  be  found  who  would  embrace  the  truth.  Ac- 
cordingly he  took  the  pilgrim-road  towards  Arafat ; 
he  passed  through  the  rocky  defiles  and  dismal 
wastes  to  tjie  farther  heights ;  thence  he  descended 
into  the  valley  of  flowers  and  fruits  with  reviving 
hope — into  a  region  so  bright  and  charming  that  it 
was  fabled  to  have  once  been  a  part  of  Syria  that 
had  floated  off  during  the  deluge.  Alas,  there  were 
other  shrines  at  Taif,  and  other  gods  were  firmly 
fixed  in  the  regard  of  the  inhabitants  !  The  chiefs 
consented  to  meet  him,  but  they  repelled  his  argu- 
ments with  the  invincible  logic  of  ridicule. 

"  Allah  is  one  and  I  am  his  prophet,"  said  Mo- 
hammed. 

''  Allah  has  no  other  apostle  but  thee  to  send  to 
us  ?  "  asked  one. 

"I  cannot  dispute  with  thee,"  said  another;  "if 
thou  art  a  prophet,  thou  art  too  grand  a  personage 
for  me  to  pretend  to  meet  in  discussion  ;  if  thou  art 
an  impostor,  I  will  not  deign  to  talk  with  thee  !  " 


98  A    TWOFOLD   CORD  BROKEN. 

Mohammed  left  the  assembly  in  chagrin,  only  to 
encounter  greater  indignities  from  the  people  with- 
out, who,  stirred  up  by  the  chiefs,  followed  him 
through  the  streets  with  cries  and  insults.  Slaves 
and  young  roughs  hurried  him  along  as  they  made 
targets  for  missiles  of  his  legs;  and  if  he  crouched 
down  for  a  moment  to  protect  himself  from  their 
bloody  weapons,  they  forced  him  to  rise  and  drag 
his  lacerated  body  rapidly  along.  Then,  when  his 
spirit  was  almost  gone,  a  pitying  citizen  gave  him 
temporary  shelter  and  a  few  grapes  to  strengthen 
and  rest  him  ;  and  the  pursuing  crowd  allowed  him 
to  get  out  of  the  city  in  peace.  Scarcely  daring  to 
look  behind,  he  hastened  towards  Mecca,  to  which 
city  his  faithful  servant,  Zeyd,  who  had  accompanied 
him  to  Taif,  had  gone  to  seek  a  place  of  abode  for 
them  both. 

In  the  interval  after  these  exciting  scenes,  it  was 
not  strange  that  the  overstrained  sensibilities  of  the 
prophet  should  render  him  vulnerable  to  attacks 
from  visions,  and  accordingly  tradition  tells  us  that 
at  this  time  his  nervous  imagination  showed  him 
certain  of  the  jinns  coming  to  listen  to  him.  He 
halted  at  a  place  where  there  were  an  idol  temple,  a 
garden,  and  a  grove,  and,  as  his  custom  was,  recited 
portions  of  the  Koran.  Seven,  or  it  may  be  nine,  or 
even  more  of  the  jinns,  overheard  his  words,  and 
they  cried  :  ''  Give  ear  !  "  When  the  reading  was  con- 
cluded, they  returned  to  their  haunts,  and  preached 
to  their  fellows,  saying  : 

*'  O  our  people  ! 
Verily  we  have  heard  a  book  sent  down  since  Moses, 


Titk   yiMNS  LISTEN,  99 

Attesting  Scripture  that  went  before. 

Guiding  to  truth  and  showing  the  right  way. 

O  our  people  ! 

Obey  the  preacher  of  Allah, 

And  believe  in  him, 

That  he  may  forgive  your  sins, 

And  save  you  from  awful  woe." 

— Sura  xlvi. 

It  was  a  comfort  to  the  prophet  in  his  low  estate 
to  feel  that  if  men  would  not  listen  to  him,  these 
beings,  made  of  pure  fire,  were  prepared  to  give 
adherence  to  his  cause ;  and  thenceforward  he  was  a 
preacher  sent  to  jinns  as  well  as  to  the  creatures  of 
clay.  The  vision  did  not  make  his  way  towards 
Mecca  any  more  hopeful,  however,  and  he  was 
obliged  for  a  time  to  loiter  in  his  former  mountain 
haunts.  At  last  Mutaim,  one  of  those  who  had  pro- 
cured the  removal  of  the  ban,  summoned  his  sons 
to  his  assistance,  buckled  on  his  armor,  and  said  to 
Mohammed  and  Zeyd  :  ''  Enter  !  "  while  at  the  same 
time  he  addressed  the  Koreishites  in  these  brave 
words  : 

"  O  ye  Koreish,  verily  I  have  given  to  Mohammed 
the  pledge  of  my  protection  ;  let  not  any  among  you 
harm  him." 

At  this  time  of  gloom  (a.D.  620)  Mohammed  took 
to  wife  a  widow  named  Sawda,  for  whom  he  had,  as 
it  seems,  little  affection ;  and  also  espoused  a  daugh- 
ter of  Abd  el  Kaba,  named  Ayesha,  a  mere  child  of 
some  seven  years,  who  became  his  favorite.  Her 
father  now  changed  his  name,  as  has  been  already 
intimated,  and  was  thereafter  known  as  Abu  Bekr, 
usually  supposed  to  signify  "  the  Father  of  the  Vir- 


?00  A    TWOFOLD   CORD  BROKEN. 

gin."*  These  were  the  first  of  a  series  of  polyga- 
mous marriages  which  mar  the  remainder  of  the 
prophet's  career.  The  actual  marriage  with  Ayesha 
was  postponed  for  several  years,  but  she  was  still 
sufificiently  a  child  to  take  her  babyish  playthings 
with  her  when  she  left  her  father's  house. 

The  time  of  pilgrimage  of  the  year  621  brought  to 
Mecca  stra^.gers  of  different  tribes,  and  Mohammed 
sought  to  ingratiate  himself  with  them  in  the  hope 
of  finding  some  who  would  listen  to  his  message  and 
offer  the  home  for  his  followers,  as  well  as  the  disci- 
ples themselves,  which  Mecca  and  Taif  promised 
never  to  furnish.  Among  the  pilgrims  Mohammed 
discovered  twelve  persons  who  had  already  given 
their  adherence  to  Islam.  They  came  from  Medina 
and  were  pleased  to  have  the  opportunity  of  con- 
versing with  one  whom  they  had  from  a  distance 
looked  upon  as  the  coming  Messiah  (Mahdi).  Mo- 
hammed sat  down  with  them  on  the  hill  Akaba,  out- 
side of  Mecca,  and  there  expounded  the  duties  of  his 
religion  ;  teaching  them  that  they  should  adore  but 
one  god;  that  they  should  not  plunder;  that  they 
should  not  kill  their  infants  ;  nor  do  any  other  evil 
deeds  ;  and  he  assured  them  that  Allah  would  judge 

*  Dr.  August  MUller,  in  "  Der  Islam,"  asserts  that  this  almost 
universally  received  interpretation  of  the  new  name  is  erroneous,  and 
that  it  arose  from  a  mistranslation.  Abu  Bekr,  he  says  (page  57),  was 
a  common  name,  though  he  gives  no  reason  for  its  having  been  thus 
assumed.  Fathers  were  commonly  called  after  their  sons,  and,  so  far 
as  we  know,  never  after  their  daughters  ;  but  the  case  of  Ayesha  was 
so  separated  from  that  of  all  other  daughters,  that  it  is  not  unreason- 
able to  believe  that  her  father  felt  it  an  honor  to  have  his  relation  to 
her  expressed  in  his  name. 


OM  THE  HILL  AKABA.  10 1 

them,  giving  them  paradise  if  they  fulfilled  their 
vows,  and  burning  them  in  gehenna  if  they  failed. 
They  bound  themselves  by  an  oath  to  follow  these 
simple  precepts,  though  it  is  to  be  observed  that 
there  was  no  obligation  to  take  up  arms  in  defence 
of  the  cause.  The  twelve  men  returned  to  Medina, 
but  promised  to  come  back  again  at  the  sacred 
month  of  the  following  year,  hoping  that  they 
might  then  report  additions  to  their  little  number. 
In  this  expectation  they  were  not  disappointed  ; 
there  was  a  sudden  renunciation  of  idols  at  Medina, 
and  the  Jews  even  begged  Mohammed  to  send 
them  a  teacher  to  give  them  instruction  in  the  new 
faith  that  had  worked  so  remarkable  a  change  in  the 
community. 


XII. 

TO   THE   SEVENTH    HEAVEN. 

In  ancient  times  men  held  dreams  and  visions 
either  in  great  respect  or  in  terrible  dread ;  they 
supposed  that  when  the  body  was  asleep,  and  the 
imagination  active ;  when  the  powers  by  which  we 
receive  sensations  were  awake  and  the  reason  and 
judgment  by  which  those  sensations  are  controlled 
were  asleep,  the  gods  were  wont  to  send  to  men  in- 
dications of  their  will,  and  revelations  of  the  future 
or  of  the  remote.  Thus  in  the  old  book  of  Job, 
which  contains  so  much  to  remind  us  of  the  Ara- 
bians, Elihu,  the  young  Buzite,  says : 

'*  God  speaketh  in  one  way, 

Yea,  in  two,  though  man  regardeth  it  not. 

In  a  dream,  in  a  vision  of  the  night, 

When  deep  sleep  falleth  upon  men, 

In  skimberings  upon  the  bed  ; 

Then  he  uncovereth  the  ears  of  men, 

And  sealeth  their  instruction, 

That  he  may  withdraw  man  from  his  purpose, 

And  hide  pride  from  man.     .     .     . 

If  there  be  with  him  an  angel, 

An  interpreter,  one  among  a  thousand, 

To  show  unto  man  what  is  right  for  him." 

Likewise  Eliphaz  the  Temanite,  very  likely  him- 
self an  Arabian,  said   to  Job,  in  the  course  of  his 

I02 


DREAMS  ANCIENT  AND   MODERN.  IO3 

calm  and  elaborate  argument  for  the  righteousness 
of  God  : 

*'  A  thing  was  secretly  brought  to  me, 
And  mine  ear  received  a  whisper  thereof. 
In  thoughts  from  the  visions  of  the  night, 
When  deep  sleep  falleth  on  men, 
Fear  cam.e  upon  me  and  trembling, 
Which  made  all  my  bones  to  shake. 
Then  a  breath  passed  over  my  face  ; 
The  hair  of  my  flesh  stood  up  : 
A  form  was  before  mine  eyes  ; 

It  stood  still,  but  I  could  not  discern  the  appearance  thereof  ; 
Silence, — and  I  heard  a  voice, — 
*  Shall  mortal  man  be  more  just  than  God  ? 
Shall  a  man  be  more  pure  than  his  Maker  ? '  " 

Though  modern  science  has  carried  its  researches 
into  every  department  of  creation,  and  has  attempted 
to  ravel  all  the  secrets  hidden  since  the  foundation 
of  the  world,  it  cannot  yet  tell  us  what  a  dream  is, 
nor  what  it  means.  Psychology  stands  by  the  sidfe 
of  the  dreamer  and  says  in  effect  that  these  mys- 
teries are  yet  to  be  explained.  It  is  not  a  matter  of 
surprise  that  when  Mohammed  found  that  visions 
were  held  in  respect  by  the  ''  Men  of  the  Book,"  as 
he  called  the  Jews,  and  considered  a  means  by  which 
their  god  revealed  and  warned  his  people,  he  should 
adopt  the  same  view  ;  and  accordingly  we  find  him 
laying  some  stress  upon  dreams.  He  did  not  know 
that  in  the  New  Testament  they  are  not  represented 
in  the  same  light  as  in  the  Old.  He  had  heard  of 
Moses,  of  Jacob,  of  Joseph,  and  of  the  prophets,  to 
whom  so  many  messages  had  been  sent  while  their 
bodies  were  asleep,  and  he  was  not  surprised  when 
visions  came  to  him.     One  occurred  at  this  juncture. 


I04  TO    THE   SEVENTH  HEAVEN. 

Doubtless,  it  was  pregnant  with  meaning,  and   he 
cried  out  : 

"  Praise  be  unto  him,  who  by  night  took  his  servant  from  the 
sacred  Kaaba  to  the  farther  temple  of  Jerusalem,  the  precincts  of 
which  we  have  blessed,  that  we  might  show  him  of  our  signs  !  Ver- 
ily Allah  heareth  and  seeth  !  " — Sura  xvii. 

It  was  a  dark  night  (tradition  tells  us)  ;  such  a 
solemn  silence  had  never  been  known  in  Mecca ;  no 
owl  hooted,  no  cock  crowed,  not  a  cur  barked  in  the 
streets,  nor  did  a  wild  beast  howl  on  the  surrounding 
hills.  Even  the  waters  seemed  to  cease  their  gentle 
murmurs  in  the  purling  well  Zem-zem  ;  the  wind 
went  down  and  the  heavy  atmosphere  was  not 
stirred  by  the  slightest  zephyr ;  all  nature  was 
smitten  with  a  weird,  uncanny  hush.  At  the  deep 
hour  of  midnight  the  prophet  started  at  the  sound  of 
a  voice : 

"  Awake,  thou  that  sleepest !  " 

One  stood  before  him  with  a  face  as  white  as  snow ; 
his  forehead  was  serene  and  unruffled  ;  hair  of  radiant 
beauty,  plaited  finely,  hung  in  graceful  curls  about  his 
shoulders  ;  dazzling  brightness  made  the  many  hues 
of  his  great  wings  illuminate  the  precious  stones  with 
which  his  robes  were  strewed  ;  and  gracious  perfumes 
from  ten  thousand  scent-bags  filled  the  air  with 
fragrance. 

The  wondrous  visitor  was  Gabriel,  with  whom  the 
prophet  was  not  entirely  unacquainted ;  he  pro- 
ceeded to  take  out  Mohammed's  heart,  which  he 
washed  in  a  golden  vessel  filled  with  the  water  of 
faith.  He  then  brought  near  a  new  sort  of  beast 
called  the  Borak,  a  name  that  signifies  lightning.    It 


THE  BORAK  GENTLY  RISES.  I05 

had  the  face  of  a  man,  eyes  of  emeralds  as  great  as 
two  stars  ;  pearls  and  other  precious  jewels  adorned 
its  wings,  which  were  resplendent  with  light  ;  and  it 
was  so  endowed  that  it  understood  what  was  spoken 
to  it,  though  it  could  not  reply.  Mohammed  pre- 
pared to  mount  the  steed  at  the  instigation  of  the 
Angel,  but  it  started  back  and  refused  to  permit 
him,  until  Gabriel  interceded ;  then  it  gracefully  re- 
lented, r  'd  when  the  prophet  was  seated,  gently  rose 
into  the  upper  air  and  with  the  swiftness  of  lightning 
bore  him  along  towards  the  north.  At  Sinai,  Gabriel 
bade  the  rapid  beast  stop  in  its  course,  to  permit 
Mohammed  to  pray  on  the  spot  where  God  once 
communed  with  Moses ;  at  Bethlehem,  where  Jesus 
the  son  of  Mary  was  born,  the  same  duty  was  re- 
peated. As  they  rose  Into  the  air  after  the  second 
stop,  Mohammed  heard  a  voice  crying  : 

"  O  Mohammed,  tarry  a  moment,  I  pray,  that  I 
may  speak  with  thee ;  thou  art  he  to  whom  of  all 
created  beings  I  am  most  devoted." 

Still  the  Borak  pressed  forwards,  and  soon  a  second 
voice  was  heard  crying  : 

"Stop!" 

Mohammed  tarried  not ;  and,  behold,  after  a  little 
a  damsel  of  the  most  ravishing  beauty  appeared,  and, 
with  the  most  alluring  smiles,  beckoned  to  the  proph- 
et, uttering  the  same  appealing  words  ;  but  not  for  an 
instant  did  he  deviate  from  the  direct  line  of  his 
progress.  Then  Gabriel  congratulated  him  that  he 
had  not  halted  ;  telling  him  that  the  first  appeal 
came  from  a  Jew,  and  that  if  he  had  listened  to  it,  all 
his  people  would  have  become  followers  of  the  re- 


Io6  TO    THE   SEVENTH  HEAVEN, 

ligion  of  Moses.  He  said  that  the  second  was  the 
voice  of  a  Christian,  who  would  have  brought  him  to 
Christianity  ;  and  the  third  was  the  appeal  of  the 
world,  to  which  had  he  given  ear,  his  fellow-country, 
men  would  have  sought  their  blessings  in  the  present 
life,  would  have  cast  aside  the  rewards  of  eternity, 
and  thus  would  have  been  forever  lost. 

The  Borak  soon  set  down  her  burden  at  the  gate 
of  the  temple  at  Jerusalem,  where  she  was  fastened 
to  a  ring  to  which,  indeed,  prophets  had  fastened  her 
before,  and  Mohammed  gave  himself  up  to  prayer. 
A  ladder  of  light  soon  invited  him  to  rise  to  the 
first  heaven,  and  afforded  him  the  means.  He  made 
the  ascent  with  rapidity  by  the  aid  of  Gabriel,  and 
the  gate  was  opened.  Pure  silver  formed  the  walls, 
and  stars  suspended  by  chains  of  gold  afforded  light. 
As  the  prophet  entered,  a  venerable  form  approached, 
and  he  did  him  reverence.  It  was  father  Adam,  who 
embraced  Mohammed,  calling  him  greatest  among 
the  sons  of  men  and  first  among  the  prophets. 

When  the  wonders  of  this  place  had  been  some- 
what examined,  the  angel  and  his  companion  pro 
ceeded  to  the  second  heaven,  which  was  of  stee' ; 
and  there  Noah  hailed  Mohammed  as  the  great(  st 
among  prophets.  The  third  heaven,  in  which  Jose  »h 
was  discovered,  was  gorgeous  with  precious  stoi  es 
and  too  jrilliant  for  mortal  eyes.  In  it  was  t  he 
angel  of  death,  writing  in  a  book  the  names  of  all 
who  were  to  be  born,  and  blotting  out  the  names  of 
those  who  had  lived  their  allotted  time.  As  e;  ch 
name  was  blotted,  its  owner  immediately  died.  In 
the  fifth  heaven  Aaron  was  found,  and  the  angel  of 


INTERIOR  OF  THE  MOSQUE  OF  OMAR  AT  JERUSALEM. 


I08  TO    THE   SEVENTH  HEAVEN. 

vengeance,  with  eyes  flashing  Hghtning,  in  whose 
hand  was  a  lance  of  flame  ;  fire  blazed  on  every  side 
of  his  throne,  and  red-hot  chains  were  not  far  from 
him  round  about. 

In  the  sixth  heaven,  Mohammed  was  met  by 
Moses,  who  wept  at  the  sight,  because  he  beheld  one 
who  was  destined  to  lead  to  Paradise  more  of  his 
nation  than  followed  the  teachings  of  their  prophet 
among  the  chosen  children  of  Israel.  The  seventh 
heaven  was  found  to  be  formed  of  divine  light,  and 
tongue  cannot  describe  its  glory.  Abraham  was 
honored  with  a  chief  place  there.  It  was  exactly 
over  the  Kaaba.  Gabriel  could  go  no  farther  ;  but 
Mohammed  was  allowed  to  go  on  through  vast  spaces 
to  the  presence  of  Allah,  who,  though  veiled,  spake 
to  him,  giving  him  many  of  the  doctrines  afterwards 
incorporated  in  the  Koran,  :nd  prescribing  that  his 
followers  should  utter  fifty  prayers  a  day. 

When  Moha.mmed  returned  to  Moses,  he  assured 
him  that  he  would  find  it  impossible  to  lead  the 
Arabian  people  to  make  so  many  prayers,  and  urged 
him  to  go  back  to  obtain  a  diminution  of  the  num- 
ber. Allah  permitted  him  to  reduce  the  number  to 
forty ;  but  Moses  insisted  that  humanity  was  even 
too  weak  to  bear  such  a  burden.  Mohammed  re- 
turned several  times,  gaining  repeated  reductions  of 
the  number,  until  it  was  left  at  five,  beyond  which 
he  refused  to  ask ;  and  at  this  number  it  has  re- 
mained unto  the  present  day.  Daily  between  dawn 
and  sunrise  the  faithful  muezzin  goes  to  his  tower 
wherever  the  religion  of  Islam  is  professed  and 
cries : 


©^s^i^i 


no  TO    THE   SEVENTH  HEAVEN. 

"Allahu  akbar !     .     .     .     Prayer  is  better  than  sleep!     .     .     . 

There  is  no  God  but  Allah  !     .     .     .     He  giveth  life  and  he  dieth 

not !     .     .     .     O  thou  bountiful  !     .     .     .     Thy  mercy  ceaseth  not ! 

My  sins  are  great,  greater  is  thy  mercy  !     .     ,     .     I  extol 

his  perfection  !     .     .     .     Allahu  akbar  !  " 

At  the  other  appointed  hours  he  Hkewise  utters 
his  well-known  but  peculiar  cry,  and  in  whatever 
place  the  Moslem  may  find  himself  at  the  moment 
he  drops  into  the  attitude  prescribed  for  worship 
and  repeats  the  words  that  his  religion  directs  shall 
be  said : — 

"  La  illah  il'  Allah  !    The  Faithful  heed, 

With  God  and  the  Prophet  this  hour  to  plead  ; 
Whose  ear  is  open  to  hear  their  need." 

When  Mohammed  related  this  vision  to  his  friends, 
they  advised  him  to  keep  it  to  himself,  for,  said  they, 
men  will  surely  call  you  a  madman  or  a  liar;  but  he 
knew  that  if  he  could  only  find  some  one  to  believe  in 
it,  his  prestige  would  be  increased,  and  he  accord- 
ingly determined  to  publish  it  and  face  the  ridicule 
that  would  be  excited.  The  result  was  that  while 
not  a  few  railed  at  him  and  insulted  him,  his  fol- 
lowers were  so  firmly  bound  to  him  that  they  never 
hesitated  thereafter  to  give  credence  to  any  thing 
that  he  said,  and  he  was  enabled  to  establish  an  oral 
as  well  as  a  written  law,  indefinitely  drawing  upon 
that  which  he  declared  he  had  seen  written  in 
heaven. 

At  this  time  Mohammed  seems  to  have  changed 
his  plans  somewhat ;  for  while  he  had  been,  through- 
out the  earlier  years  of  his  mission,  seeking  to  estab- 
lish a  religious  following  only,  he  now  looked  for  a 


CHANGES  JN  MOHAMMED. 


Ill 


temporal  kingdom.  Perhaps  the  case  is  correctly 
stated  thus :  Beginning  his  career  filled  with  an  en- 
thusiastic desire  to  reform  his  country's  religion,  he 
had  grown  to  have  a  confidence  that  his  aspirations 
and  designs  were  approved  of  Allah ;  then  that  they 
emanated  directly  from  him.  After  years  of  hard 
labor  in  this  honest  direction,  supported  by  the  good 
Kadija  and  the  strong  Abu  Talib,  he  was  rejected 
by  many  and  believed  that  he  had  practically  failed ; 
then,  determined  to  succeed  at  whatever  sacrifice  of 
principle  or  consistency,  he  turned  to  the  pursuit 
of  political  advantages.  Desperate,  indeed,  must 
the  outlook  have  been  which  caused  Mohammed 
the  Faithful  One  to  look  to  any  other  than  Allah  for 
aid! 


XIII. 

IN  A   CAVE. 

When  Mohammed  came  back  from  the  land  of 
dreams  he  must  have  felt  a  great  shock  ;  his  eyes  did 
not  open  upon  walls  of  gold  or  silver;  no,  nor  even 
of  steel ;  there  were  none  of  the  blazing  inscriptions 
to  be  seen  that  his  fond  imagination  had  pictured,  pro- 
claiming on  every  wall :  ''  There  is  no  God  but  Allah ; 
Mohammed  is  the  Apostle  of  Allah !  "  No  angels 
filled  his  apartment  with  celestial  glory  ;  no  prophets 
bowed  down  to  him  ;  scarcely  a  man  showed  him- 
self interested  in  the  great  mission.  He  had  verily 
descended  from  heaven  to  earth ! 

He  was  now  confident,  but  not  aggressive  ;  he  still 
preached  the  unity  of  Allah,  but  desisted  from  very 
positive  onslaughts  upon  idolatry ;  he  cried  out  from 
time  to  time  to  the  opposers  : 

"  Have  ye  not  heard  the  story  of  those  who  were  before  you? 
Apostles  came  unto  them  with  tokens  ;  but  they  thrust  their  hands 
into  their  mouths  in  indignation,  and  said,  *  Verily  we  disbelieve.' 
•  •  •  And  the  misbelievers  said  to  the  Apostles,  *  We  will  drive 
you  from  our  land,  if  ye  return  not  to  our  faith  !  *  Then  Allah  spake 
by  revelation  to  them.  '  Verily  we  shall  destroy  the  wicked  !  ' " — 
Sura  xivo 

' '  Prophets  before  thee  have  been  mocked  ;  but  they  who  laughed 
them  to  scorn  were  encompassed  by  the  vengeance  that  they  ridi- 
culed." 


A  NO  THER  MEE  TING  ON  AKABA.  1 1 3 

"  *Nay,'  say  they,   *a  jumble  of  dreams;  nay!  he  hath  forged 
it ;  nay  !  he  is  a  poet ;  but  let  him  bring  us  a  sign.'  " — Sura  xxi. 
"  But  it  shall  cause  sighing  unto  the  unbelievers, 
And  it  is  the  TRUTH,  the  Certain  TRUTH  ; 
Wherefore,  praise  the  name  of  Allah  the  glorious  !  " 

— Sura  Ixix. 
"  None  wrangle  concerning  the  signs  of  Allah  save  the  misbe- 
lievers.    ...     In  the  fire  shall  they  be  baked." — Sura  xl. 

Thus  the  prophet  warned  unceasingly ;  thus  he 
threatened  unbehevers  with  punishments  that  must 
have  seemed  to  them  of  the  most  frightful  severity 
and  the  utmost  indignity  ;  but  the  Meccans  stead- 
fastly refused  to  listen.  Meantime  the  year  was 
wearing  away  at  the  end  of  which  the  twelve  from 
Medina  were  to  return  with  reports  of  their  success 
or  failure.  With  them,  when  they  left  him,  Moham- 
med had  sent  Mussab,  one  of  the  most  able  of  his 
disciples,  to  preach  Islam  in  his  name.  So  success- 
ful was  the  zeal  and  eloquence  of  this  missionary, 
and  so  ready  were  the  people  to  hear  him,  that 
before  a  twelvemonth  had  passed  he  was  able  to 
boast  of  converts  in  every  one  of  the  tribes  among 
the  people  of  Medina.  When  the  holy  month 
arrived,  he  led  to  Mecca  threescore  and  ten  men 
who  met  Mohammed  on  the  hill  Akaba,  eager  to 
invite  him  to  turn  his  back  upon  Mecca,  and  make 
their  city  his  future  dwelling-place. 

Had  the  Koreishites  been  aware  of  this  meeting 
they  would  have  come  forth  in  their  strength,  and 
the  small  nucleus  of  a  kingdom  would  have  sud- 
denly been  brought  to  naught.  A  night  was  chosen 
toward  the  end  of  the  sacred  season,  and  the  con- 
verts found  the  place  of  rendezvous  singly,  or  by 


114  IN  A    CAVE. 

twos  or  threes,  under  cover  of  the  darkness  ;  they 
**  waked  not  the  sleeper  nor  waited  for  the  absent." 
The  spot  where  they  met  was  in  a  secluded  glen  not 
far  from  the  road  used  by  the  pilgrims,  beneath  the 
hill,  near  the  valley  of  Mina ;  a  place  much  fre- 
quented during  the  holy  season.  Even  the  faithful 
Moslems  of  Mecca  were  not  informed  of  the  meeting, 
so  necessary  was  it  thought  to  keep  it  secret. 

Midnight  arrived,  and  the  dim  light  of  the  hour 
showed  the  forms  of  the  seventy  slowly  finding  their 
way  to  the  spot.  When  they  were  seated.  Abbas, 
uncle  of  the  prophet,  the  wealthiest  of  the  sons  of 
Abd  al  Muttalib,  rose  in  the  gloom  and  addressed  the 
spectral  assemblage : 

*'  Children  of  the  tribes  of  Yathrib  !  Ye  know 
the  high  rank  that  this  my  kinsman  holdeth 
among  the  sons  of  Hashim.  Though  opposed  to 
his  new  faith,  we  have  supported  him,  and  we  will 
support  him  ;  but  he  hath  found  favor  in  the  eyes 
of  your  people,  and  is  ready  to  become  one  of  you. 
Wherefore,  consider  well  the  matter :  if  ye  are 
strong  to  defend  him  against  all  who  may  rise  up 
to  harm  him ;  if  ye  be  men  of  war,  willing  to  sacrifice 
your  lives  and  your  goods  in  his  cause,  well ;  if  not, 
abandon  him  now,  and  you  will  not  be  tempted  to 
betray  him  later !  " 

''  We  are  men  of  war,"  they  promptly  replied, 
"and  we  will  be  faithful  to  our  promises,  though  it 
cost  us  our  lives.  Our  resolution  is  taken  ;  it  is  now 
for  thee,  O  prophet,  to  speak,  and  tell  us  the  con- 
ditions that  thou  demandest  for  thyself  and  for 
Allah," 


THE  SEVENTY  RETURN  TO  MEDINA,         IJ5 

*' Ye  will  bow  to  Allah  only,"  began  the  prophet ; 
"ye  will  be  faithful  to  the  precepts  of  Islam  ;  ye  will 
obey  me  ;  ye  will  receive  my  fellows  and  me ;  ye  will 
fight  for  our  defence  as  for  the  defence  of  wives  and 
children." 

"  Our  recompense  ?  "  they  asked. 

'*  Paradise  !  " 

"  If  we  win  triumph  for  Islam,  wilt  thou  not  one 
day  quit  us  for  thy  native  city  ?  "  one  enquired. 

"  I  will  live  and  I  will  die  with  ye !  "  exclaimed 
Mohammed,  a  smile  of  pride  and  satisfaction  playing 
about  his  lips. 

"  Give  us  thy  hand  !  "  they  said,  and  a  confused 
noise  arose  from  the  seventy  throats  as  they  swore 
the  second  oath  of  Akaba. 

""  Hush  !  "  cried  Abbas ;  "  spies  are  upon  us  !  " 

Suddenly  the  party  separated,  after  Mohammed 
had  designated  twelve  among  them  as  his  representa- 
tives at  Medina,  and  before  the  sun  had  risen  upon 
the  valley  they  were  again  with  their  caravan.  Their 
idolatrous  companions  had  not  noticed  their  ab- 
sence. Soon  all  were  ready  for  the  return  to 
Medina ;  the  seventy  burdened  with  the  solemnity 
of  a  strong  oath,  and  the  twelve  dignified  by  the 
addition  of  new  responsibilities  that  perhaps  might 
cost  them  their  lives.  The  spy,  or  the  chance  passer, 
who  had  so  suddenly  broken  up  the  conference, 
brought  his  vague  information  to  the  Koreishite 
chiefs,  and  they  sent  to  the  parting  caravan  to  ask  if 
any  men  of  Medina  had  conferred  with  Mohammed  ; 
if  they  had  promised  to  take  him  away  ;  if  they  had 
bound  themselves  to  his  fortunes,  for  the  Koreishites 


Il6  IN  A    CAVE. 

declared  that  they  deprecated  war  with  their  breth- 
ren of  Medina.  The  idolaters  among  them  of  the 
caravan,  men  of  position,  hastened  to  give  assurance 
that  they  had  had  no  sort  of  communication  with 
the  prophet ;  and  one  of  the  chiefs  ventured  to  add 
that  it  was  not  probable  that  any  among  his  com- 
pany had  entered  into  such  a  bond,  for  a  matter  of 
so  much  importance  would  surely  have  come  to  his 
notice. 

Further  investigation,  after  the  pilgrims  had  left, 
satisfied  the  Koreishites,  however,  that  their  suspi- 
cions were  correct,  and  they  hurried  armed  envoys 
after  the  caravans.  Two  pilgrims  were  brought 
back,  and  after  some  maltreatment  they  were  per^ 
mitted  to  rejoin  their  friends  ;  but  the  gravity  of  the 
situation  was  apparent  to  the  Meccans,  and  they  en- 
tered upon  a  second  persecution  of  the  followers  of 
the  prophet,  more  cruel,  if  possible,  than  that  which 
had  led  to  the  emigration  to  Abyssinia.  As  in  that 
instance  Mohammed  had  said  to  his  followers: 
"■  Emigrate,"  so  now  he  commanded  them  :  "■  Depart 
unto  Medina ;  Allah  hath  verily  given  you  brethren 
there  and  a  home  in  which  ye  shall  find  refuge." 

The  faithful  were  not  slow  to  follow  their  leader's 
advice  ;  by  twos  they  took  their  tedious  way  over 
the  sands  to  the  northward  on  camels  ;  singly  they 
trudged  along  the  same  weary  way  on  foot,  if  the 
price  of  a  camel  was  beyond  their  ability ;  and  the 
Koreishites  found  now  a  dwelling  empty,  now  a  street 
deserted,  now  a  quarter  of  the  city  that  was  once 
alive  with  humanity  quiet  and  forlorn.  Still  Mo- 
hammed, with  Abu  Bekr,  and  AH  and  their  families 


VENGEANCE    THREATENED.  WJ 

did  not  leave,  the  prophet  thinking,  probably,  that  it 
was  his  honorable  duty  to  stand  by  the  last  who  re- 
mained. 

Daily  Abu  Bekr  urged  Mohammed  to  start,  but  he 
replied  time  and  again  that  Allah  had  not  given  him 
the  command  to  emigrate.  With  worldly  wisdom 
Abu  made  ready  swift  camels  against  the  day  which 
was  sure  to  come,  for  the  anger  of  the  Koreish  was 
rising.  They  were,  indeed,  made  more  excited  by 
the  dilatoriness  of  their  proposed  victim.  They 
held  a  council  to  discuss  the  state  of  affairs  and  to 
enquire  into  the  motive  for  the  prophet's  strange 
action.  With  one  voice  they  determined  that  some 
aggressive  step  should  be  taken  against  him  ;  but 
what  should  it  be?  Should  they  chain  him  in 
prison  ?  His  friends  might  deliver  him.  It  was 
plain  that  his  life  must  be  sacrificed  for  the  good  and 
tranquillity  of  the  city.  He  could  not  be  exiled,  for 
then  he  would  run  through  the  tribes  and  excite  them 
to  rise  and  unite  against  Mecca.  It  was  at  last  de- 
cided that  a  man  from  each  principal  family  should 
be  chosen,  and  that  at  the  same  moment  all  should 
give  a  death-blow  to  the  prophet.  Thus  the  children 
of  Hashim  would  be  unable  to  take  vengeance 
upon  any  particular  family,  and  would  be  forced  to 
accept  the  price  of  blood,  which  would  freely  be 
offered. 

Mohammed,  in  turn,  was  informed  of  the  plot  (by 
the  angel  Gabriel,  as  the  faithful  believe),  and  made 
his  arrangements  accordingly.  Leaving  Ali  covered 
with  his  own  mantle  and  lying  in  his  bed,  Moham- 
med  escaped   in  the  darkness  by   the  back    of   his 


11^  tJsr  A    CAVE. 

house  to  Abu  Bekr,  to  whom  he  explained  that  the 
time  had  come  to  flee.  Abu  Bekr  had  long  been 
hoping  for  the  privilege  of  accompanying  Moham- 
med when  he  should  leave  Mecca,  and  now  he  asked 
it.  The  prophet  graciously  gave  his  consent,  and 
Abu  Bekr  shed  tears  of  joy  at  the  prospect.  There- 
upon the  two  stole  away  to  the  south. 

While  the  prophet  was  thus  seeking  safety,  his 
enemies  went  to  his  house.  There  they  found  Ali 
and  asked  him  where  Mohammed  was.  He  replied 
that  he  had  no  knowledge  of  him  ;  was  not  his 
keeper,  and  supposed  that  as  he  had  been  ordered 
to  leave  the  city,  he  had  gone.  In  every  direction 
scouts  were  sent  to  search  for  the  fugitives,  but  no 
trace  of  them  could  be  found. 

Mohammed  and  Abu  Bekr  had  walked  quickly  to 
a  mountain  distant  only  an  hour  and  a  half  from 
Mecca,  but  in  the  direction  away  from  Medina 
towards  which  it  Avas  naturally  supposed  that  they 
would  go.  There,  on  the  rocky  summit,  approached 
by  a  ragged  and  difficult  path,  in  the  midst  of  a  bar- 
ren and  wild  tract,  over  a  portion  of  which  they 
were  forced  to  drag  their  bodies  on  their  hands  and 
knees,  they  found  a  small,  low  opening,  barely  suffi- 
cient to  a  ^mit  them  singly.  Into  this  Mohammed, 
the  prophet  of  Allah,  fresh  from  dreams  of  the 
seventh  heaven,  and  Abu  Bekr,  the  *'  Second  of  the 
Two,"  as  he  was  afterwards  called  as  a  mark  of 
special  honor,  crept  stealthily  just  as  day  dawned. 
Though  he  had  been  so  exceedingly  desirous  to  have 
the  honor  of  accompanying  Mohammed,  Abu  Bekr 
now  became  fearful  lest  their  place  of  refuge  should 


FEARFUL  ABU  BEJCR. 


119 


be  discovered,  and  said  to  the  prophet :  "  What  if 
our  pursuers  should  find  our  cave  ?  We  are  but 
two." 

"  We  are  three,"  said  Mohammed  ;  "  Allah  is  with 
us !  " 


XIV, 

THE   YEAR   ONE. 

When  we  say  that  Queen  Victoria  ascended  her 
throne  in  1837,  we  mean,  if  we  stop  to  think,  that 
she  began  to  reign  1837  years  after  the  birth  of 
Christ ;  but  if  we  were  to  count  back  to  the  year 
one,  we  should  find  that  at  that  time  Christ  was  a 
little  boy  about  four ;  which  shows  that  there  must 
be  some  error.  The  truth  is  that  a  mistake  was 
made.  It  was  not  until  six  hundred  years  after  the 
birth  of  Christ  that  the  world  began  to  date  its  let- 
ters and  documents  from  that  event,  and  there  were 
no  men  of  science  living  who  could  tell  exactly  the 
year  when  it  occurred. 

We  find  the  same  difficulty  in  regard  to  all  dates 
and  eras.  Some  nations  date  from  the  beginning  of 
the  world,  but  none  of  them  know  when  the  world 
began ;  the  Jews  say  that  it  was  3750  years  before 
Christ ;  the  people  of  Constantinople  that  it  was 
5509  years  before,  and  so  on.  The  Romans  dated 
from  the  year  of  the  founding  of  their  city,  but  they 
did  not  even  know  when  that  event  occurred  ;  and 
now  we  find  the  Arabians  dating  from  their  year 
One,  but  the  world  cannot  tell  exactly  when  it  was. 
We  know  more  nearly  about  this  than  we  do  when 


THE  COMMAND  TO  EMIGRATE.  121 

our  own  era  begins,  because  the  Arabian  year  One 
was  so  many  hundred  years  after  ours.  The  farther 
we  go  back  in  our  studies  of  history,  the  more  misty 
all  matters  appear.  We  are  not  surprised,  therefore 
to  find  in  some  books  the  statement  that  the  Arab- 
ian year  One  began  on  the  i6th  of  July  in  the  year 
622  after  Christ,  in  another  that  it  was  the  22d  of 
September,  and  in  another  still  that  it  was  the  20th 
of  June.  It  is  said  to  have  been  the  tenth,  the 
thirteenth,  or  the  fifteenth  year  after  the  Angel 
Gabriel  had  so  wonderfully  commanded  Mohammed 
to  read  the  marvellous  words  that  he  held  up  before 
his  eyes.  The  difficulty  arises  from  the  fact  that  the 
Arabians  did  not  call  their  months  by  the  same 
names  that  we  call  ours,  and  did  not  make  them  of 
the  same  length ;  so  that  their  years  were  irregular, 
and  a  long  calculation  is  required  to  establish  any 
date  that  is  given  us  by  them.  Such  a  calculation 
has  been  made  by  a  noted  French  scholar  learned  in 
these  subjects,  and  as  it  seems  the  best  that  has  yet 
been  offered,  we  shall  accept  it,  and  assume  that  it 
was  on  the  19th  of  April,  622,  A.D.,  that  Moham- 
med said  to  his  disciples,  "  Emigrate  !  "  and  that  it 
was  on  the  20th  of  June  of  the  same  year  that  he 
and  Abu  Bekr  started  for  their  mountain  cave.  Dr. 
August  Miiller  makes  it  September,  however. 

The  cave,  lonely  and  remote  as  it  was,  could  not 
have  been  a  safe  place  for  the  two  flying  men,  for 
the  search  was  active ;  the  scouts  actually  came 
once  to  its  mouth,  and  the  prophet  and  his  compan- 
ion heard  their  voices.  According  to  the  legend 
Allah  had  commanded  a  tree  marvellously  to  grow 


122  THE  YEAR  ONE. 

up  before  it,  a  spider  to  weave  its  delicate  web  over 
it,  and  a  wild  pigeon  to  lay  eggs  in  a  nest  that  it 
most  quickly  made  in  its  branches.  The  searchers 
saw  the  web,  and  said  that  of  course  no  one  could 
be  in  a  hole  so  small  and  covered  up  by  a  screen  that 
would  have  been  broken  if  any  person  had  attempted 
to  enter.     So  the  danger  passed  by. 

Three  days  the  two  remained  hidden ;  a  shepherd 
who  tended  the  flocks  of  Abu  Bekr  driving  a  few 
goats  to  the  cave  every  evening,  and  giving  them 
milk,  and  one  of  his  sons  bringing  them  food  every 
day  that  his  sister  had  cooked.  The  son  was  also 
watching  the  movements  at  Mecca,  and  with  the 
food  he  brought  the  news  of  what  was  going  on.  He 
finally  reported  that  the  city  was  quiet ;  that  it  was 
believed  the  prophet  had  gained  such  a  start  that  it 
would  not  be  worth  while  to  follow  him.  Then  the 
refugees  ventured  from  their  lowly  hiding-place,  and 
two  camels  that  had  been  provided  in  advance  were 
brought  to  a  spot  near  the  summit,  as  though  they 
had  wandered  there ;  the  faithful  daughter  supplied 
also  more  food,  and  after  Mohammed  and  Abu 
Bekr  had  mounted  they  began  the  descent  of  the 
mountain.  When  the  valley  was  reached  they  dared 
not  take  the  usual  road,  but  struck  off  to  the  westward 
in  the  direction  of  the  Red  Sea,  until  they  found  the 
track  of  the  caravans  going  to  Syria — a  track  that 
may  well  have  been  familiar  to  Mohammed  at  least. 

By  evening  they  were  well  started  on  the  journey, 
and  when  they  fondly  thought  that  they  were  be- 
yond the  probability  of  pursuit,  they  beheld  in  the 
distance  the  approaching  form  of  a  man  who,  tempted 


THE  HEJRA.  1 23 

by  the  sum  set  upon  the  head  of  the  prophet,  had 
not  yet  given  up  the  search.  At  the  sight,  Abu 
Bekr  cried  out,  ''  We  are  lost !  "  Mohammed,  on  the 
contrary,  said  :  ''  Allah  will  protect  us  "  ;  and  lo,  as 
the  grim  leader  of  the  troop  advanced,  his  shaggy 
locks  and  Esau-like  arms  giving  him  a  threatening 
appearance,  his  charger  stumbled  and  threw  his  rider 
into  the  dust  at  the  prophet's  feet !  Mohammed  took 
advantage  of  the  moment  to  make  an  eloquent  ap- 
peal, and  the  warrior,  assured  that  heaven  really  had 
interfered,  cried  out : 

*'  Hold  !  listen  to  me  !  You  have  nothing  to  fear." 

"  What  do  you  wish  ?  "  asked  Abu  Bekr. 

"  I  wish  a  writing  testifying  that  Mohammed  has 
received  me  into  the  number  of  his  followers." 

On  the  instant,  the  words  were  written  by  Abu 
Bekr  on  a  fragment  of  bone,  and  the  prophet  was 
again  free  to  pursue  his  journey.  As  he  went  slowly 
along,  often  not  far  from  the  side  of  the  sea,  he  and 
his  companion  must  had  many  a  thought  of  those 
they  had  left  behind  them.  "  What  of  Ayesha  ?  " 
"  How  was  Ali  treated  by  the  Koreishites  aftey  they 
found  that  he  had  known  of  the  prophet's  flight  ?  " 
"  How  was  Fatima,  and  were  the  other  daughters 
safe  ?  "  They  could  only  trust  that  Allah  would  in- 
cline the  hearts  of  the  members  of  their  clans  to  pro- 
tect the  helpless  from  harm ;  there  was  no  possibility 
of  getting  intelligence  from  them  for  a  long  time, 
either  on  the  journey  or  at  its  end.  Passers  whom  they 
encountered  carried  news  of  their  progress  to  Mecca, 
however,  and  it  was  soon  certainly  known  there  that 
Medina  was   the   place   for  which  the  prophet  was 


124  THE   YEAR   ONE, 

bound.  As  for  Ali,  he  was  not  molested,  and  after 
a  few  days  he  started  himself  for  the  same  city. 
Neither  did  the  daughters  nor  the  wives  of  the 
prophet  suffer  any  inconvenience  from  the  citizens  so 
lately  enraged  against  Mohammed. 

Men  from  Medina  were  met  also  by  the  prophet, 
and  he  was  encouraged  by  good  news  of  the  faithful, 
who  were  said  to  be  anxiously  awaiting  his  arrival. 
In  due  time,  the  travellers  turned  off  to  the  east, 
and  leaving  the  vicinity  of  the  sea,  took  the  road 
towards  the  mountains  which  hid  from  view  the  fruit- 
ful territory  about  Medina.  Only  inhospitable  granite 
frowned  upon  them  ;  the  road  led  up-hill  ;  the  sum- 
mer sun  shone  out  upon  them  with  intensity,  and 
progress  was  difficult  for  both  man  and  beast.  One  of 
the  camels,  indeed,  broke  down  under  the  severity 
of  the  journey  ;  the  incident  bringing  to  mind  the 
words  of  the  poet  : 

"  '  Droop  not  my  faithful  camel !     Now 

The  hospitable  well  is  near. 
Though  sick  at  heart  and  worn  in  brow, 
I  grieve  the  most  to  think  that  thou 

And  I  may  pa-c,  ^ind  comrade,  here  ! 
O'er  the  dull  waste,  a  swelling  mound, 

A  verdant  paradise  I  see  ; 
The  princely  date-palms  there  abound, 
And  sprin.     that  make  it  sacred  ground 

To  pilgrims  like  to  thee  and  me.' 
The  patient  camel's  eye, 

All  lustreless,  is  fixed  in  death. 

Beneath  the  sun  of  Araby 
The  desert  wanderer  ceased  to  sigh, 

Exhausted  on  its  burning  path  !  " 

Medina    lies    three   thousand    feet  above  the   sea 


IN  THE  BRIGHT  SUBURB  KOBA.  1 25 

level,  and  is  a  contrast  to  Mecca ;  instead  of  the 
narrow  and  barren  valley,  it  boasts  beautiful  gar- 
dens and  rich  foliage ;  a  river  flows  through  its  plain, 
and  all  around  lie  green  fields,  evidences  of  the  gen- 
erous returns  that  nature  affords  there  to  the  labors 
of  the  husbandman.  Of  all  the  bright  spots  in  the 
beautiful  region,  the  suburb  of  Koba,  two  miles  to 
the  south  of  the  city  and  connected  with  it  by  unin- 
terrupted gardens,  most  attracts  the  eye.  Upon  this 
scene  of  loveliness  Mohammed  looked  down  as  he 
achieved  the  difificult  ascent  of  the  mountains.  Per- 
haps his  appreciation  of  the  view  was  enhanced  by 
sweet  but  dim  memories  of  the  day  when  his  mother, 
Amina,  had  taken  him  to  visit  his  relatives,  on  which, 
alas,  she  had  given  up  her  young  life  !  Other  thoughts 
must  have  been  mingled  with  these  sad-sweet  remi- 
niscences, however,  for  in  spite  of  all  the  assurances  he 
had  received  from  friends,  Mohammed  could  but 
have  doubted  what  his  reception  was  to  be. 

He  determined  not  to  enter  Medina  directly,  and 
turned  his  camel  towards  Koba,  where  he  alighted 
beneath  a  tree.  As  it  was  not  known  that  he  had  lost 
three  days  in  the  cave,  his  friends  had  already  ex- 
pected his  arrival  for  some  time  ;  and  everyday  they 
had  watched  for  him  on  the  road  a  mile  or  so  be- 
yond the  city.  This  morning  they  had  returned  from 
their  perch,  which  was  on  the  rocks  west  of  Medina, 
but  when  Mohammed  came  in  sight,  ?  Jew  who  saw 
him  from  his  house-top,  cried  :  "  He  has  come  !  He 
for  whom  the  Refugees  have  been  looking  has  at  last 
come  !  "  If  the  calculations  are  correct,  this  was 
Monday,   June  28th.     It  was   not   long   before  the 


126  THE   YEAR   ONE. 

streets  echoed  and  re-echoed  with  the  joyful  cry: 
"  He  is  come  !  He  is  come  !  "  From  every  quarter 
the  excited  people  flocked  to  greet  the  prophet,  who 
did  not  fail  to  bear  himself  with  his  usual  dignity, 
and  said,  very  much  as  modern  rulers  say  when  they 
call  upon  their  people  to  give  thanks : 

**  O  people,  show  your  joy  by  giving  to  your 
neighbors  the  salutation  of  peace  ;  send  portions  to 
the  poor  ;  bind  close  the  ties  of  kinsmen ;  pray  while 
others  sleep  ;  and  thus  shall  ye  enter  paradise  !  " 

For  several  days  Mohammed  rested  at  Koba,  and 
then,  fully  assured  that  his  entrance  into  the  city 
would  be  welcome,  he  determined  to  take  up  his 
abode  there  on  the  following  Friday.  By  that  time, 
Ali  had  arrived,  and  accompanied  him.  In  the  morn- 
ing he  mounted  his  favorite  camel,  with  Abu  Bekr 
behind  him.  A  host  of  followers  surrounded  them  ; 
a  powerful  chief  at  the  head  of  seventy  horsemen 
acted  as  guard  of  honor ;  disciples  took  turns  in 
holding  a  canopy  of  palm-leaves  over  his  head ;  one 
enthusiast  unfolded  his  turban,  and,  tying  it  to  the 
point  of  his  lance,  bore  it  along  as  a  standard.  Be- 
fore entering  the  city  limits,  the  prophet  halted  at  a 
spot  still  pointed  out  as  the  place  of  Friday  prayer, 
and  preached  a  sermon,  after  performing  religious 
services.  It  was  the  first  of  a  series  of  Friday 
services  that  has  continued  to  this  day. 

The  inhabitants,  clad  in  holiday  garments,  streamed 
forth  to  welcome  the  coming  hero,  caUing  upon  him : 
"  Alight  here,  O  prophet !  here  is  abundance  !  here 
is  room  !  here  is  protection  !  "  Mohammed  replied  : 
**  Let  the  camel  go  free  ;  she  will  show  the  place  at 


PAR  TIES  A  T  MEDINA.  1 2/ 

which  Allah  wills  that  I  shall  alight."  Slowly  the 
triumphal  procession  moved  along  among  the  grace- 
ful palms  and  green  gardens  of  the  southern  portion 
of  the  city  ;  and  finally  the  beast  halted  and  sat  down 
in  the  eastern  district,  in  a  large  court-yard  contain- 
ing a  few  date-trees.  By  thus  giving  a  supernatural 
character  to  the  selection  of  the  place,  Mohammed 
wisely  avoided  all  the  jealousies  that  might  other- 
wise have  been  aroused  by  his  choice  of  a  home. 
His  first  duty  was  to  purchase  the  ground  ;  for  he 
refused  to  accept  it  as  a  gift,  though  it  was  urged 
upon  him. 

After  the  triumph,  came  sober  thoughts  of  what 
was  to  be  done  to  ensure  the  success  of  the  mission 
to  a  people  who  might  not  all  be  in  sympathy  with 
the  faithful.  There  were  among  the  inhabitants  of 
Medina  the  band  of  emigrants  from  Mecca  (Muajerin), 
and  the  new  converts  (Ansars),  upon  whom  reliance 
might,  of  course,  be  put ;  but  there  were  also  many 
known  as  the  Disaffected,  who  asked  :  ''  For  what  do 
we  people  of  Medina  throw  ourselves  at  the  feet  of 
this  foreigner  ?  "  "  Is  it  not  merely  to  lose  our  liber- 
ties, and  bring  ourselves  and  our  children  into  bond- 
age?" These  covered  up  their  animosity  for  the 
present,  but  it  was  living  hatred,  and  the  prophet 
knew  that  at  any  moment  that  they  might  think 
promising,  it  would  break  forth  into  declared  and 
vigorous  opposition. 

There  were  also  in  Medina  Jews,  with  whom  the 
prophet's  relations  were  peculiar;  for  he  had  bor- 
rowed many  things  in  his  faith  and  practice  from 
them,  and  professed  much  sympathy  with  their  re- 


128  THE   YEAR   ONE. 

ligious  views.  Some  of  these  were  gained  over  and 
became  faithful  adherents  of  Islam,  but  others  cast 
ridicule  upon  the  prophet.  Against  these  latter  he, 
in  turn,  inveighed  as  rebels,  as  men  judicially  blind, 
as  belonging  to  the  generation  of  those  who  had 
killed  the  prophets  in  other  days,  and  had  rejected 
the  Messiah. 

"  O  People  of  the  Book,"  he  cried,  "  why  do  ye  disbelieve  in  the 
signs  of  Allah,  the  while  ye  witness  them  ?  Why  do  ye  clothe  the 
truth  with  falsehood,  and  hide  the  truth  that  ye  know  ?  " — Sura  iii. 

In  the  second  sura,  which  dates  from  the  first  year 
of  the  Hejra,  the  prophet  recommended  his  followers 
to  avoid  the  use  of  wine.  Four  years  later  he  de- 
cided that  total  abstinence  was  the  only  safe  policy, 
and  forbade  both  wine  and  games  of  chance. 

It  was  no  easy  task  that  Mohammed  had  before 
him;  he  knew  as  well  as  we  do  now  that  a  public 
triumph  is  often  the  forerunner  of  a  fall.  Still,  he 
continued  to  profess  that  he  looked  to  Allah  only 
for  support  and  guidance. 


XV. 

ISLAM. 

Let  us  stop  now  at  the  threshold  of  the  new  era 
and  ask  what  was  the  doctrine  that  Mohammed  had 
up  to  this  time  preached,  and  what  he  was  expected 
to  bring  to  Medina.  It  was  "  strikingly  new  and 
original,"  as  Professor  Palmer  has  said ;  for  the  first 
time  it  put  before  the  Arabian  the  grand  conception 
of  one  God,  the  faith  of  their  father  Abraham,  which 
the  ignorant  worship  of  stocks  and  stones  had  long 
obscured.  It  was  a  radical  and  noble  reform  that, 
when  the  sons  of  the  wind-swept  plains  gave  up 
feticism  for  the  worship  of  Allah,  The  nation  was 
not  turned  from  all  evil ;  they  saw,  for  instance,  that 
Abraham  and  Isaac  and  Jacob  married  more  wives 
than  one,  and  had  concubines  from  among  their 
slaves  ;  and  they  did  not  feel  called  to  renounce  their 
like  customs  ;  they  looked  at  Christianity  through 
the  dim  light  of  obscured  tradition,  and  they  did  not 
see  its  grandeur,  nor  feel  attracted  to  doctrines  in  it 
which  they  could  not  understand ;  they  scorned  the 
dogma  of  the  trinity,  because  it  presented  to  their 
imagination  Allah,  Miriam,  and  Issa  (Jesus), — a 
confused  mixture  of  a  divinity  which  they  most 
fervently  worshipped,  a  prophet  whom  they  never 


130  ISLAM. 

mentioned  without  asking  blessings  upon  him,  and  a 
woman  whom  they  confounded  both  with  the  sister 
of  Harun  (Aaron)  and  the  virgin-wife  of  Joseph. 

The  doctrines  of  Mohammed  before  the  Hejra,  or 
emigration  to  Medina,  were  simple  indeed.  They 
consisted  of  these  articles :  Allah  is  one ;  Mo- 
hammed is  his  messenger ;  the  dead  are  to  be 
raised,  the  good  rewarded,  and  the  bad  punished  ; 
prayer  must  be  observed  morning,  evening,  and  at 
night ;  alms  must  be  given  the  poor ;  there  must  be 
honesty  in  weighing  and  measuring  ;  truthfulness  in 
words,  and  faithfulness  to  wives  and  concubines ; 
agreements  must  be  strictly  kept.  It  was  a  religion 
of  works,  and  there  was  no  looking  forward  to  any 
other  dispensation  ;  it  was  represented  to  be  com- 
plete and  unchangeable.  There  was  not,  and  there 
has  never  been  since,  any  Sabbath  in  which  the 
hours  are  hallowed  and  the  thoughts  confined  to 
holy  things.^ 

There  was  a  paradise  parodied  from  that  of  the 
Rabbis,  a  heaven  brilliant  with  precious  stones, 
watered  by  rivers,  and  adorned  with  the  most  pro- 
fuse vegetation,  the  description  of  which  was  inter- 
preted literally  by  the  people,  and  not  in  a  spiritual 
sense.  It  spoke  of  "  princely  bowers,"  of  a  "  land  of 
'  flowers,"  of 

*'  Unfading  lilies,  bracelets 
Of  living  pearl"; 

*  Mohammed  called  his  followers  to  the  mosques  on  Fridays  to 
hear  sermons,  but  they  did  not  intermit  their  usual  occupations  the 
whole  day.  They  had  been  accustomed  to  have  gatherings  on  that 
day  before  the  prophet's  time. 


NO  HE  A  VENL  Y  HOMESICKNESS.  I  3  I 

it  looked  to  a  physical  realization  of  such  a  picture 
as  that  of  Damiani : 

"Where  arise  the  pearly  mansions,  shedding  silvery  light  afar; 
Festive  seats  and  golden  roofs  which  glitter  like  the  evening  star. 
Wholly  of  fair  stones  most  precious  are  those   radiant   structures 

made  ; 
With  pure  gold  like  glass  transparent  are  those  shining  streets  inlaid. 
Stormy  winter,  burning  summer,  rage  within  those  regions  never, 
But  perpetual  bloom  of  roses,  and  unfading  spring  forever  ; 
Lilies  gleam,   the  crocus  glows,  and  dropping  balms  their  scents 

deliver." 

In  it  was  a  golden  city  "  with  milk  and  honey 
blest,"  where  was  heard  the  "  shout  of  them  that 
feast";  the  inhabitants  walked  over  *' pathways  of 
gold,"  and  gazed  upon  walls  decked  with  jewels  rare ; 
but  the  Arabians  who  sang  of  such  things  did  not 
cry,  with  the  ''  heavenly  homesickness  "  of  a  Faber 
or  a  Meyfart — • 

"  Hark  !  hark  !  my  soul  !     Angelic  songs  are  swelling 
O'er  earth's  green  fields  and  ocean's  wave-beat  shore  ; 
How  sweet  the  truth  those  blessed  strains  are  telling 
Of  that  new  life  where  sin  shall  be  no  more  !  " 

"  Jerusalem  !  high  tower  thy  glorious  walls, 

Would  God  I  were  in  thee  ! 
Desire  of  thee  my  longing  heart  enthralls, 

Desire  at  home  to  be  : 
Wide  from  the  world  outleaping, 

O'er  hill  and  vale  and  plain. 
My  soul's  strong  wing  is  sweeping, 

Thy  portals  to  attain  !  " 

We  hear  no  cry  from  them  like  that  of  George 
Eliot : 


132  ISLAM. 

'•  Oh  may  I  join  the  choir  invisible 
Of  those  immortal  dead  who  live  again 
In  minds  made  better  by  their  presence  ;  live 
In  pulses  stirred  to  generosity, 
In  deeds  of  daring  rectitude,  in  scorn 
Of  miserable  aims  that  end  vi^ith  self, 
In  thoughts  sublime  that  pierce  the  night  like  stars, 
And  with  their  mild  persistence  urge  men's  minds 
To  vaster  issues  !  " 

On  the  contrary,  the  paradise  of  Islam  was  a  place 
of  sensual  ecstasy,  where  the  pleasures  of  the  present 
life  were  to  be  intensified  a  hundred-fold  ;  where 
things  spiritual  and  pure  were  no  more  cultivated 
than  they  are  in  the  mortal  state  of  existence.  The 
conception  was  a  sad  mixture  of  good  and  evil,  and 
was  even  more  sensuous  than  the  paradise  of  the 
Rabbis.  The  four  wives  permitted  to  the  Moslem 
here  were  multiplied  many  times  in  that  blissful 
abode,  and  were  immensely  increased  in  beauty;  in 
this  respect  the  materialism  of  the  rabbinic  concep- 
tion was  both  aggravated  and  debased.     In  it  were 

rivers  of  water  without  corruption,  and  rivers  of  milk  the  taste 
whereof  changes  not,  and  rivers  of  wine  deHcious  to  those  who 
drink,  and  rivers  of  honey  clarified  ;  and  there  shall  they  have  all 
kinds  of  fruit  and  forgiveness  from  Allah. — Sura  xlvii. 

Faces  on  that  day  [the  Day  of  the  Overwhelming]  shall  be 
comfortable,  content  with  their  past  endeavors,  in  a  lofty  garden 
wherein  they  shall  hear  no  foolish  word  ;  wherein  is  a  flowing  foun- 
tain ;  wherein  are  couches  raised  on  high,  and  goblets  set  down,  and 
cushions  arranged,  and  carpets  spread. — Sura  Ixxxviii. 

It  does  not  appear  that  Mohammed  was  a  man 
given  over  to  sensuous  enjoyments ;  on  the  contrary, 
his  personal  habits  were  very  simple,  and  he  de- 
scribed this  heaven  of  earthly  delights  during  that 


DIFFERENCE  S  IN  THE  S UFA  S.  1 3  3 

happy  period  when  his  love  for  Kadija  was  one  of 
the  stays  of  his  hfe.  He  must  have  simply  set  down 
the  particulars  of  the  future  life  as  he  found  them 
described  by  the  magi  and  the  Rabbis  ;  probably 
curtailing  their  excesses,  for  he  never  made  his 
religion  an  easy  one.  He  permitted  indulgences 
that  would  be  criminal  for  us  in  the  present  age 
of  the  world  ;  but  he  found  them  unquestioned, 
practised  from  immemorial  time  in  Arabia,  and  he 
certainly  restricted  them  on  many  sides. 

There  is  a  singular  difference  in  the  suras,  as  we 
examine  them,  in  regard  to  their  length,  a  difference 
which  has  a  significance.  If  we  divide  them  into 
sections  chronologically,  we  shall  notice  that  the 
earlier  utterances  are  exceedingly  brief,  and  the 
later  sometimes  very  long.*  The  first  twenty-two, 
according  to  one  good  arrangement  of  them,  average 
but  five  lines  each  ;  the  next  score  average  sixteen 
lines  ;  the  fifty  following,  seventy-seven  lines ;  and 
the  last  twenty-two  average  one  hundred  and  ten 
lines.  The  earlier  utterances  possess  the  character- 
istics of  rhapsodies,  and  seem  to  be  the  real  cries  of 
a  spirit  deeply  in  earnest ;  they  are  impetuous  and 
wild.  The  latest  are  narrative,  argumentative,  de- 
scriptive, and  denunciative  ;  they  sound  like  the 
words  of  a  man  who  has  a  system  to  support  before 
an  opposing  people. 

At  the  beginning  of  his  teaching  Mohammed  pro- 
fessed simply  to  recall  the  Arabs  to  the  service  of  the 

*  Tentative  chronological  arrangements  are  given  in  this  volume. 
The  translation  of  the  Koran  by  the  Rev.  J.  M.  Rodwell  gives 
another. 


134  ISLAM. 

God  of  Abraham,  with  no  relation  to  any  previous  re- 
ligion, though  he  said  that  there  had  been  Moslems 
in  the  past,  meaning,  probably  that  there  had  been 
men  fully  resigned  to  the  will  of  Allah.  When  he 
became  personally  acquainted  (though  perhaps  indi- 
rectly) with  the  contents  of  the  sacred  books  of  the 
Jews  and  Christians,  he  announced  his  own  as  a  con- 
firmation of  them,  saying : 

"  This  is  the  Book  which  we  have  sent  down  ;  follow  it  then  and 
fear  ;  lest  haply  ye  may  obtain  mercy  !  Lest  ye  say  '  The  Book  was 
only  sent  down  to  two  sects  before  us  ;  verily  we  care  not  for  what 
they  read.*  " — Stira  vi. 

At  a  later  period,  Mohammed  rises  superior  to  the 
former  revelations,  and  claims  that  he  is  the  last  of 
the  six  prophets, — the  others  being  Adam,  Noah, 
Abraham,  Moses,  and  Issa,  or  Jesus, — and  that  his 
coming  was  foretold  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures. 

Those  whom  we  have  given  the  Book  know  him,  as  they  know 
their  sons  ;  and  O  ye  people  of  the  Book  !  our  apostle  has  come 
to  you  to  explain  much  of  what  ye  had  hidden  in  the  Book,  and  to 
pardon  much. — Su7-a\.  Issa,  the  son  of  Mary,  said:  "O  chil- 
dren of  Israel  !  verily,  I  am  the  apostle  of  God  to  you,  verifying  the 
law  that  was  before  me,  and  giving  you  glad  tidings  of  an  apostle 
who  shall  come  after  me,  whose  name  shall  be  Ahmed  !  " — Sura  xli. 

At  first  he  thought  that  there  were  three  revelations 
of  God's  will,  the  Law,  the  Gospel,  and  the  Koran : 

We  believe  in  Allah,  and  in  what  has  been  revealed  to  thee,  and 
to  Abraham,  and  to  Ishmael,  and  to  Isaac,  and  to  Jacob,  and  the 
tribes  ;  and  what  was  given  to  Moses  and  Issa,  and  to  the  prophets 
from  Allah  ;  nor  make  no  distinction  between  them. — Sura  iii. 

Finally,  he  makes  the  Koran  rise  above  the  others, 
declares  that  its  original  was  in  heaven,  and  becomes 


A    WONDROUS  CHANGE.  1 35 

himself  antagonistic  to  both  Jews  and  Christians,  and 
appeals  to  no  previous  revelation. 

The  simple  duties  prescribed  by  Mohammed  at 
first  were  not  essentially  added  to  during  the  period 
previous  to  the  emigration  to  Medina,  though  the 
number  of  daily  prayers  was  at  the  time  of  the  vision 
of  the  seventh  heaven  increased  to  five  ;  but  the  peo- 
ple of  Mecca  had  been  raised  from  a  condition  of 
spiritual  torpor  to  a  state  of  active  discussion  of 
matters  that  before  had  possessed  no  interest  for 
them  ;  their  feelings  had  now  indeed  become  so 
lively  that  the  entire  community  was  rent  into  fac- 
tions.* Several  hundred  persons  had  taken  so  deep 
an  interest  in  the  preachings  of  the  new  teacher  that 
they  were  willing  to  bear  persecution  and  exile  for 
the  sake  of  them.  But  a  few  years  since  sunk  in 
superstition  and  practising  all  sorts  of  vice,  they  now 
prostrated  themselves  five  times  a  day  in  prayer  to  an 
invisible  Allah,  whom  they  had  before  known  only  im- 
perfectly at  best,  and  were  honestly  trying  to  follow 
the  precepts  that  they  believed  had  been  sent  directly 
from  him  to  them.  The  change  is  comparable  to 
nothing  but  to  that  arousing  of  men  which  followed 
the  first  preaching  of  the  Gospel. 

The  prophet  himself  draws  the  picture  of  his  faith- 
ful people,  in  these  words  : 

The  servants  of  the  Merciful  are  they  who  walk  upon  the  earth 
softly,  and  when  the  ignorant  address  them,  reply,  Peace  ! 

Those  who  pass  the  night  adoring  the  Lord,  prostrate  and 
standing  ; 

*  Mohammed  declared  that  the  large  number  of  sects  in  Islam  was 
a  proof  of  its  truth. 


1 36  ISLAM, 

And  who  say,  "  O  our  Lord,  turn  from  us  the  torment  of  hell  ; 
verily,  from  the  torment  thereof  there  is  no  release  ;  verily,  it  is  an 
evil  abode  and  place." 

Those  who  invoke  not  another  god  with  Allah. 

They  who  testify  not  falsely  ;  and  when  they  pass  by  vain  words, 
pass  it  by  with  dignity. 

They  who  when  admonished  by  the  signs  of  the  Lord,  fall  not 
down  as  if  deaf  and  blind  ; 

"Who  say,  "  Grant  us  wives  and  children  such  as  shall  be  a  comfort 
to  us,  and  make  us  models  unto  the  pious." 

These  shall  be  rewarded  with  high  places  in  Paradise,  for  that 
they  were  patient  ;  and  they  shall  meet  therein  salutation  and  peace, 
to  dwell  therein  for  aye  :    a   fair   abode   and   resting-place  ! — Sura 

XXV. 

Seemly  unto  men  are  the  pleasures  of  women  and  children  ;  fair 
are  the  hoarded  treasures  of  gold  and  silver  ;  and  of  horses  well-bred, 
and  cattle  and  corn-fields.  Such  is  provision  for  the  life  of  this  world  ; 
but  Allah,  goodly  is  the  home  with  him. 

Shall  I  tell  you  of  better  things  than  these  ?  For  those  who  fear, 
are  gardens  with  their  Lord,  beneath  which  rivers  flow,  and  in  which 
they  shall  abide  for  aye,  with  pure  wives  and  grace  from  Allah,  for 
Allah  regardeth  his  servants  who  say,  "  Lord,  we  believe,  pardon  our 
sins  and  keep  us  from  the  torment  of  the  fire."  They  are  the  pa- 
tient, the  truthful,  the  devout,  they  who  ask  pardon  as  each  day 
breaks. 

"  With  the  exception  of  Christianity,"  says  Barthe- 
lemy  St.  Hilaire,  ''  founded  on  the  Old  Testament 
and  the  Gospels,  with  all  their  marvellous  conse- 
quences, the  world  can  boast  no  religion  that  may 
properly  be  compared  with  Islam,  or  that  merits 
even  a  remote  comparison  with  it."  Dr.  Weil  says 
that  though  we  cannot  regard  Mohammed  as  a  true 
*'  prophet,"  we  are  not  at  liberty  to  deny  him  the 
merit  of  having  presented  the  most  gracious  doc- 
trines of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  to  the  Arab- 
ians at  a  time  when  they  were  enlightened  by  no 


GOOD   TRAITS   OF  ISLAM. 


137 


single  ray  of  faith,  and  that  therefore  he  must  be 
considered  in  some  sense  commissioned  by  God. 
The  Count  de  BoulainviUiers  said  a  century  and  a 
half  ago,  that  outside  of  the  Christian  revelation 
there  is  no  doctrinal  system  so  plausible  as  Islam  ; 
none  so  reasonable,  so  comforting  to  well-doers,  and 
so  terrible  to  sinners. 


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XVL 

THE     SWORD     IS     DRAWN. 

Medina,  which  had  up  to  this  time  been  known 
as  Yathrib,  now  received  the  name,  by  which  it  has 
been  called  ever  since,  The  City.  One  of  the  first 
duties  of  Mohammed  was  to  begin  !:-ie  erection  of 
a  place  of  worship,  and  his  plans  for  this  were  of  the 
simplest  nature.  Trees  were  cut  down  at  the  place 
where  his  camel  first  knelt  for  him  to  descend ; 
walls  of  earth  and  brick  were  built  ;  and  trunks  of 
palms  were  used  to  support  a  roof,  which  was 
framed  of  their  branches  and  thatched  with  their 
leaves.  In  this  structure,  which  was  of  ample  pro- 
portions to  accommodate  a  good  congregation,  the 
prophet  was  wont  to  preach,  standing  on  the  ground 
and  supporting  himself  against  one  of  the  palm-trees, 
until,  after  a  time,  a  pulpit  was  constructed  for  his 
use. 

The  Jews,  when  they  prayed,  were  accustomed  to 
turn  their  faces  toward  the  temple  at  Jerusalem,  in 
accordance  with  the  prayer  of  Solomen  at  its  dedica- 
tion. When  they  could,  they  entered  its  sacred 
precincts,  but  if  they  were  at  a  distance,  they  fol- 
lowed the  example  of  the  prophet  Daniel, —  opened 
the   windows    of  their  houses  towards  the   city   of 


THE  NATIONAL  KIBLA.  1 39 

David  and  uttered  their  petitions.  At  first,  Moham- 
med estabHshed  no  rule  in  this  regard  ;  but  after  the 
emigration  to  Medina,  he  advised  that  the  example 
of  the  Jews  be  followed,  perhaps  as  one  of  his  con- 
ciliatory measures.  It  was  not  long  before  he  saw 
that  he  could  strengthen  his  position  more  by  giving 
his  followers  a  distinctively  national  kibla — that  is, 
''place  towards  which  to  look  in  prayer,"  {kabala^  to 
be  before),  and  it  is  said  that  he  prayed  to  Gabriel 
for  direction.  The  archangel  referred  him  to  Allah, 
and  soon  he  received  the  revelation  recorded  in  the 
second  sura  : 

We  have  made  you  a  middle  nation  to  be  a  witness  against 
men.  .  .  .  We  appointed  the  kibla  to  which  thou  didst  turn, 
only  that  we  might  know  him  who  followeth  the  apostle,  from  him 
who  turneth  upon  his  heels.  .  .  .  We  have  seen  thee  often  turn 
thy  face  about  towards  heaven  with  doubt  ;  but  we  will  surely  give 
thee  a  kibla  that  thou  shalt  like.  .  .  .  Turn,  therefore,  thy  face 
toward  the  sacred  temple  ;  wherever  ye  be  turn  your  faces  towards 
it.  .  .  .  From  what  place  soever  thou  comest  forth,  turn  thy 
face  toward  the  holy  kaaba  ;  for  this  is  truth  from  Allah  ;  neither  is 
he  regardless  of  what  ye  do.  .  .  „  Every  sect  hath  a  certain 
quarter  to  which  they  turn  themselves,  but  do  ye  strive  to  run  after 
good  things. 

In  the  midst  of  a  public  service,  Mohammed 
raised  his  face  towards  Jerusalem,  and  twice  pros- 
trated his  body  in  that  direction,  when  he  abruptly 
recited  the  substance  of  the  above  words.  He 
immediately  turned  himself  towards  the  south,  and 
the  entire  congregation  followed  his  motions.  Thus 
the  link  that  bound  Islam  to  Judaism  was  forever 
broken.  Never,  in  all  succeeding  ages,  have  Mos- 
lems turned  their  faces  towards  the  Jewish  capital 


I40  THE   SWORD  IS  DRAWN. 

in  worship.  So  great  has  been  the  influence  of  a 
momentary  motion  of  the  prophet's  body  ! 

It  was  at  this  period  that  the  formal  call  to  prayer 
was  settled  as  it  exists  at  the  present  day.  Before 
this  time  the  muezzin  had  simply  cried,  '*  To  public 
prayer  !  "  but  this  seemed  to  lack  the  formality  that 
was  demanded  by  the  increasing  importance  of  wor- 
ship at  Medina,  and  a  discussion  arose  on  the  subject. 
Some  suggested  the  bells  of  the  Christians  ;  others, 
the  trumpet  or  the  timbrel ;  and  some  the  lighting 
of  fires  on  high  places  ;  but  the  ''  true  "  way  was  at 
last  revealed  to  a  citizen  in  a  dream.  He  met  in  his 
revery  a  man  carrying  a  bell,  and  asked  him  to  sell 
it  for  the  purpose  of  calling  the  Moslems  to  worship. 
The  man  said,  *'  I  will  show  you  a  better  mode,"  and 
proceeded  to  repeat  the  form  of  words  now  used. 
The  citizen  went  to  Mohammed  immediately,  and 
the  prophet  saw  that  the  vision  was  "  from  Allah." 
He  directed  his  negro  muezzin  to  carry  out  the  sug- 
gestion. Accordingly,  the  servant  went  to  a  high 
building  by  the  side  of  the  new  mosque,  and  watched 
for  the  break  of  day.  When  the  first  ray  of  sunlight 
greeted  his  eyes,  he  raised  his  voice  and  roused  the 
slumberers  around  by  the  now  familiar  words,  uttered 
at  the  top  of  his  powerful  lungs.  Thus  another 
time-honored  custom  was  begun.* 

It  was  not  long  after  his  arrival  at  Medina  that 
Mohammed  formally  married  the  child  Ayesha,  to 
whom,  as  we  know,  he  had  been  espoused  while  at 
Mecca,  and  she  became  his  favorite.  As  he  added 
wife  ^o  wife,  he  built  new  apartments  for  each  one 
*  For  some  of  the  words  of  this  call,  see  page  no. 


HO IV  MOHAMMED  LIVED.  I4I 

adjoining  the  mosque.  These  were  of  the  simplest 
description  ;  plain  cabins  not  more  than  twelve  feet 
square,  of  sun-burnt  brick,  thatched  with  palm- 
branches,  and  so  low  that  one  might  reach  the  roof 
with  the  hand.  The  mode  of  living  was  as  simple 
as  the  apartments.  Ayesha  said :  ''  For  a  whole 
month  together  we  did  not  light  a  fire  to  dress  our 
food,  which  was  only  dates  and  water,  unless  some 
one  sent  us  meat.  Our  people  never  had  wheat 
bread  two  days  in  succession.'  Between  the  door 
of  Ayesha's  cabin  and  the  entrance  of  the  mosque 
there  was  an  ante-room,  used  by  the  prophet  for  his 
evening  devotions ;  but  save  this  he  had  no  apart- 
ment of  his  own  ;  his  time  was  divided  between  his 
wives.  The  plain  mattresses  were  laid  upon  the 
ground,  and  the  mud-daubed  walls  were  hung  with 
skins  used  to  hold  water,  milk,  or  honey.  Ayesha's 
wedding-feast  was  provided  with  dates  and  olives  ; 
and  her  portion  comprised  but  two  skirts,  one  head- 
tire,  a  pillow  of  leather  stuffed  with  palm-leaves,  two 
armlets  of  silver,  a  drinking  cup,  a  hand-mill,  two 
water-jars  and  a  pitcher.  This  simplicity  was  agree- 
able to  the  demands  of  one  who  had  grown  up  as  a 
camel-driver,  and  who  loved  to  commune  with  nature 
in  her  wildest  aspect  on  mountain-tops  ;  of  one  who 
could  rest  his  weary  head  upon  a  stone  in  a  rocky 
cave ;  but  it  did  not  suit  the  taste  of  the  more 
wealthy  followers  of  the  prophet,  whose  luxurious 
living  became  more  and  more  a  contrast  to  the  habits 
of  their  leader. 

In  his  efforts  to  strengthen  his  position  at  Medina, 
Mohammed   formed   a  brotherhood   between   those 


142  THE   SWORD  IS  DRAWN. 

emigrants  who  had  come  from  Mecca  (Muajerin)  and 
the  faithful  who  had  always  lived  in  the  City  of  the 
Prophet  (Ansars).  One  of  the  new  converts  was 
linked  with  one  of  the  old  in  a  bond  more  close  than 
that  of  kindred,  for  they  were  to  be  mutual  heirs  in 
preference  to  blood-relations ;  and  thus  the  strangers 
were  comforted,  and  in  their  days  of  homesickness 
and  illness  were  made  calm  and  resigned.  It  is  to 
these  times  and  this  brotherhood  that  reference  is 
made  in  the  eighth  sura. 

Remember  when  ye  were  few  and  weak  in  the  land,  fearing  lest 
men  should  do  you  harm  ;  then  Allah  sheltered  you  and  gave  you 
victory  ;  providing  you  with  good  things.  .  .  .  Verily  those 
who  believed  and  fled  and  fought  for  the  faith  with  their  bodies  and 
their  goods,  and  they  who  have  given  refuge,  they  shall  be  called 
next  of  kin  to  each  other. 

This  was  an  expedient  that  served  its  purpose  un- 
til the  new  faith  and  its  followers  found  themselves 
established  in  the  land,  when  it  gradually  gave  way, 
and  its  rules  were  abrogated.  The  prophet  had, 
however,  become  convinced  that  not  brotherhood 
and  love  alone  were  to  be  successful  in  estabHshing 
his  mission  ;  that  more  forceful  weapons  were  re- 
quired in  the  battle  that  was  before  him. 

We  have  noticed  that  there  was  a  fundamental 
difference  between  the  two  covenants  of  Akaba; 
the  second  requiring  of  the  disciple  that  he  should 
support  the  claims  of  Islam  with  the  sword,  a  de- 
mand that  the  first  did  not  make.  It  did  not  com- 
mand aggressive  warfare.  There  were  not  wanting 
other  warnings  that  a  change  had  begun  in  the 
prophet's   mind.       Mohammed    declared    that    the 


AN  UNCOMPROMISING  SPIRIT.  143 

different  prophets,  who  had  been  sent  by  Allah, 
illustrated  his  various  attributes  :  Moses  showed  his 
providence  and  clemency ;  Solomon  his  wisdom, 
majesty,  and  glory ;  and  Issa  his  righteousness, 
power,  and  knowledge ;  but  that  none  of  these  attri- 
butes had  proved  sufficient  to  conquer  unbelief; 
that  even  the  miracles  of  Moses  and  Issa  had  been 
ineffectual.  ''  I,  therefore,  the  last  of  the  prophets," 
he  exclaimed,  ''  am  sent  with  the  sword !  Let  the 
champions  of  the  faith  of  Islam  neither  argue  nor 
discuss ;  but  slay  all  who  refuse  to  obey  the  law  or 
to  pay  tribute.  Whoever  fights  for  Islam,  whether 
he  fall  or  conquer,  will  surely  receive  the  reward. 
The  sword  is  the  key  of  heaven  and  hell ! " 

If  we  look  into  the  Koran,  we  find  many  tokens 
of  this  uncompromising  spirit. 

Fight  in  the  cause  of  Allah  !  .  .  ,  Kill  them  wherever  you 
find  them,  and  drive  them  out  from  whence  they  drive  you  out  ;  for 
temptation  is  worse  than  slaughter ;  but  fight  them  not  by  the 
sacred  mosque  until  they  fight  you  there  ;  then  kill  them. — Sura  ii. 

Permission  is  given  to  those  who  fight  because  they  have  been 
wronged  ;  and  verily  Allah  has  power  to  help  them. — Sura  xxii. 

When  ye  meet  those  who  misbelieve,  then  strike  off  heads,  until 
ye  have  massacred  them,  and  bind  fast  the  bonds.  .  .  .  And 
those  who  are  slain  in  the  cause  of  Allah,  their  work  shall  not  go 
wrong. — Sura  xlvii. 

Ye  shall  be  called  out  against  a  people  endowed  with  vehement 
valor,  and  shall  fight  them,  or  they  shall  become  Moslems.  ,  .  . 
Allah  promised  you  many  spoils. — Sura  xlviii. 

The  spoils  are  Allah's  and  the  prophets. — Sura  viii. 

After  Mohammed  left  Mecca,  its  trade  much  in- 
creased on  account  of  the  quiet  that  the  town  en- 
joyed. The  prophet  watched  this  extension  of  trafific 
with  interest,  especially  because  he  had  now  deter- 


144  THE   SWORD  IS  DRAWN, 

mined  upon  conquest.  The  well-laden  caravans  that 
went  thither  promised  to  furnish  him  objects  for 
attack  and  plunder,  as  well  as  opportunity  to  gratify 
his  revenge  against  his  kinsmen  who  had  thrust  him 
from  them.  When  we  reflect  upon  the  Arab  char- 
acter, and  remember  that  Ishmael  and  his  descend- 
ants had  always  been  predatory  in  their  habits,  we 
can  understand  the  reception  that  these  new  plans 
met.  Now,  there  was  some  thing  in  the  prophet's 
mission  that  they  could  understand,  some  thing  that 
directly  appealed  to  their  national  tastes ;  there  was 
a  promise  of  activity  and  of  the  gratification  of  their 
baser  appetites,  and  they  flocked  to  his  standard  with 
enthusiasm.* 

Laden  with  precious  merchandise,  the  long  lines 
of  camels  carried  from  Taif  and  Mecca  produce  val- 
ued at  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  yearly,  and 
when  they  made  their  way  through  narrow  ravines, 
or  passes,  among  the  mountains,  they  were  always 
open  to  attack  from  predatory  bands  of  small   num- 

*  "  Mohammedanism  grasped  the  sword  not  to  destroy  all  infi- 
dels and  pagans,  not  to  force  men  to  become  Moslems  at  the 
sword's  point,  but  only  to  proclaim  that  eternal  truth,  the  unity 
of  the  God-head,  throughout  the  whole  extent  of  the  then  known 
globe." — Syed  Ahmed  Khan  Bahador  (London,  1870),  "Essay" 
iv.,   p.    30. 

On  the  other  hand,  another  Moslem,  Seyed  Ameer  AH,  a  descend- 
ant of  the  prophet,  in  his  "Critical  Examination  of  the  Life  and 
Teachings  of  Mohammed,"  London,  1873,  says:  "We  deny  alto- 
gether that  Islam  ever  grasped  the  sword  for  the  purpose  of  prosely- 
tizing. Islam  siezed  the  sword  only  in  self-defence,  and  held  it  in 
self-defence.  Islam  never  interfered  with  the  dogmas  of  any  moral 
faith,  never  persecuted,  never  established  an  inquisition."  Never- 
theless, the  sword  was  drawn,  and  the  Moslems  grasped  it  with  will- 
ingness. 


ARABIAN  WEAPONS    OF   DIFFERENT  EPOCHS. 


146  THE   SWORD  IS  DRA  WN. 

bers,  if  the  assailants  were  bold  and  determined 
Sometimes  almost  every  citizen  of  Mecca  would  bk 
financially  interested  in  a  single  caravan,  the  rich 
investing  of  their  abundance  and  the  poor  trusting 
their  slender  savings  to  the  responsible  person  who 
took  the  direction  of  the  venture.  It  may  very 
readily  be  imagined,  therefore,  with  what  interest 
the  people  of  the  prophet's  birthplace  now  looked 
towards  Medina,  as  they  sent  out  their  caravans  to 
Syria,  and  reflected  that  their  exiled  enemy  was 
watching  their  movements  with  a  vigilant  and  de- 
termined eye. 

Before  the  first  year  had  much  more  than  half 
passed  by  after  Mohammed's  emigration  to  Medina, 
he  sent  out  one  of  his  uncles  to  intercept  a  Meccan 
caravan  returning  from  Syria,  and  an  encounter  was 
only  prevented  through  the  intervention  of  a  chief 
friendly  to  both  parties.  A  month  afterwards  an- 
other expedition  went  out,  bu.t  the  Koreish  were  too 
strong  for  it,  and  nothing  was  effected.  A  few 
weeks  later,  in  the  autumn  of  623  A.D.,  still  a 
third  party  stole  from  Medina,  by  night,  as,  indeed, 
the  others  had,  in  search  of  an  expected  caravan  con- 
ducted by  Abu  Sofian  ;  but  the  Meccans  escaped 
the  trap  that  was  laid  for  them.  To  each  of  the 
leaders  of  these  parties  the  prophet  had  presented  a 
white  banner,  but  the  emblem  of  his  authority  failed 
to  ensure  success ;  he  therefore  determined  to  take 
the  lead  himself,  and  actually  went  forth  on  several 
other  expeditions,  which  proved,  however,  no  more 
satisfactory. 

The   first  predatory  enterprise  of  much  note  was 


AN'GRY  Passions  rise.  14;' 

sent  out  during  a  sacred  month,  when  all  devout 
Arabians  held  that  war  was  forbidden.  In  spite  of 
the  holiness  of  the  period,  Mohammed  gave  the 
leader  instruction  to  go  to  the  valley  in  which  he 
had  preached  to  the  jinns,  there  to  watch  for  an  ex- 
pected caravan,  of  which  he  might  ''bring tidings  to 
him."  The  caravan  was  encountered  and  pillaged  at 
Nakla,  one  man  being  killed  in  the  struggle  (Nov., 
623).  The  scandal  that  this  "  sacrilegious "  act 
aroused,  led  Mohammed  to  pretend  to  be  angry  with 
the  leader,  and  he  refused  to  share  the  booty  ;  it  led 
also  to  an  addition  to  the  Koran,  found  in  the  sec- 
ond sura : 

They  will  ask  of  the  sacred  months,  and  fighting  therein.  Say, 
Fighting  therein  is  grievous,  but  to  obstruct  the  way  of  Allah,  and  to 
deny  him  and  hinder  men  from  the  Kaaba,  and  to  turn  his  people 
thence,  is  a  greater  sin  in  the  sight  of  Allah.  Tempting  is  more 
grievous  than  killing. 

While  the  angry  passions  were  rising  at  Medina, 
there  seemed  to  be  in  contrast  quite  a  Christian 
spirit  at  Mecca  ;  and  we  read  of  no  acts  of  retalia- 
tion nor  bloodshed  on  the  part  of  the  Koreishites. 
Tn  the  month  of  January,  624,  scouts  brought  in- 
formation to  Mohammed  that  the  caravan  of  Abu 
Sofian  which  had  eluded  the  vigilance  of  his  forces 
the  previous  autumn  was  then  on  its  return  from 
Syria  with  the  extraordinary  train  of  a  thousand 
camels  bearing  rich  produce  of  the  north.  He  de- 
termined that  it  should  not  again  escape,  and  gather- 
ing a  small  but  sufficient  force,  comprising  seventy 
fleet  camels,  and  troops  of  exiles  from  Mecca  em- 
bittered by  their  troubles  there,  and  bodies  of  Medi- 


14^  THE   SWORD  IS  PR  A  IV N: 

nan  converts,  each  under  its  own  banner,  he  sallied 
forth  with  his  usual  confidence.  Taking  the  direc- 
tion of  Mecca  for  a  certain  distance  he  then  turned 
towards  the  Red  Sea,  and  encamped  in  a  fertile  spot 
watered  by  the  brook  Bedr,  where  he  waited  for  the 
Meccans. 

Meantime,  the  Holy  City  had  been  thrown  into 
the  direst  confusion  by  the  appearance  of  a  messen- 
ger from  the  caravan,  who,  hurrying  at  the  utmost 
speed  of  his  camel,  had  rent  his  garments  before  and 
behind  to  show  that  he  was  the  bearer  of  alarming 
news.  As  the  citizens  crowded  about  his  kneeling 
beast,  he  cried,  in  tones  of  the  utmost  intensity: 
"  O  ye  Koreish  !  O  ye  Koreish !  Mohammed  pursues 
your  caravan.  Help  !  Help  !  "  Nothing  more  was 
needed  to  stir  the  city  throughout  its  length  and 
breadth  ;  thousands  and  thousands  of  precious  gold 
were  at  stake  ;  the  competence  of  many,  the  whole 
living  of  more.  The  sword  had  been  unsheathed 
in  the  valley  of  the  jinns,  and  blood  had  been 
spilled  ;  there  must  now  be  repression  ;  there  must 
be  revenge,  or  this  Mohammed  would  ride  over 
Mecca  to  its  ruin.  Seven  hundred  camels  and  a 
hundred  horse,  well  equipped,  were  promptly  on 
the  road  to  the  northward  ;  but  it  was  soon  learned, 
to  their  great  thankfulness  and  surprise,  that  the 
rich  caravan  had,  by  the  sagacity  of  Abu  Sofian, 
been  able  to  escape  from  its  danger.  Should  the 
force  go  on,  and  punish  the  Moslems?  Pride  and 
hate  both  cried  out :  ''  Forward !  "  and  on  the  army 
rushed. 

Mohammed,  on  his  part,  pressed  southward  with 


THE    VICTORY  OF  BEDR,  1 49 

equal  enthusiasm,  crying  to  his  men  :  *'  Go  forward, 
with  the  blessing  of  Allah  !  He  hath  promised  the 
army  or  the  caravan.  Methinks  I  see  now  the  bat- 
tle-field strewn  with  the  dead  Koreishites  !  **  The 
careful  prophet  did  not  neglect,  however,  to  prepare 
a  swift  camel  near  his  head-quarters  with  which  he 
might  himself  escape  to  Medina  in  case  of  need. 
There  was  no  such  need  ;  the  forces  meeting  near 
the  fountain  of  Bedr,  rushed  together  with  sounds 
of  trumpets,  and  the  Meccans,  though  many  more  in 
number  than  their  opponents,  were  discomfitted. 
Mohammed  declared  that  Gabriel  with  three  thou- 
sand angels  had  taken  part  in  the  conflict,  and  that 
the  victory  was  from  Allah,  to  whom,  and  to  whose 
prophet,  the  spoil  belonged.  The  battle  was  the 
most  celebrated  of  all  in  the  history  of  Islam,  and  of 
great  historical  importance.  The  booty  was  not 
large,  because  the  caravan  had  escaped  ;  but  there 
were,  nevertheless,  arms  and  camels,  clothing  and 
carpets,  all  of  v/hich  were  collected  on  the  field, 
and,  after  a  fifth  part  had  been  set  aside  for  the 
prophet,  the  remainder  was  divided  equally  among 
his  followers.  Those  who  had  been  engaged  in  the 
thickest  of  the  fight  felt  aggrieved  that  the  others 
received  as  much  as  they,  and  a  '^  revelation  **  was 
found  necessary  to  settle  the  disaffection.  The  law 
of  the  division  of  the  spoil  was  accordingly  estab- 
lished as  follows :  *'  Know  that  whatsoever  thing  ye 
plunder,  verily  one  fifth  thereof  is  for  Allah  and  the 
prophet,  and  for  the  orphan  and  the  poor  and  the 
wayfarer." 

There  was  joy  in  Medina,  when  the  swift  drome- 
dary  of  Mohammed  appeared  at  the  place  of  prayer, 


I  50  THE    S  WORD   IS  DRA  WiV. 

and  a  messenger  announced  that  the  Koreishites  had 
been  overthrown  ;  small  children,  we  are  told,  were 
excited  with  the  dreadful  triumph  of  the  warrior, 
and  ran  about  the  streets  crying  out  in  exultation 
over  the  fallen  enemy.  In  Mecca  far  different  feel- 
ings were  excited  ;  sullen  hate  was  aroused,  and  the 
natural  grief  for  the  lost  that  rose  unbidden  was 
stifled  by  the  determination  to  have  bloody  revenge. 
'*  Weep  not  for  )^our  slain,"  they  cried,  "  bewail  not 
their  loss,  neither  let  the  bard  mourn  for  them.  Show 
yourselves  men, — heroes  !  Let  not  wailing  and  lam- 
entation diminish  your  hate  for  Mohammed  and  his 
fellows.  They  will  scorn  us  and  make  us  the  butt 
of  their  laughter  if  we  expose  to  them  our  weak- 
nesses !  We  shall  again  go  forth,  and  verily,  we 
shall  have  revenge !  "  Thus,  for  days,  even  for 
weeks,  the  spirit  of  hate  sustained  the  people ;  but 
the  time  came  when  nature  could  bear  the  strain  no 
longer,  and  all  the  wild  demonstrations  that  mark 
the  expression  of  Oriental  sorrow  broke  forth  in 
every  quarter,  for  there  w^as  hardly  a  house  in  which 
kindred  did  not  mourn  their  captives  or  their  dead. 
In  every  quarter  except  one, — for  Hind,  the  stern 
wife  of  the  leader  of  the  caravan,  gave  no  expression 
to  womanly  feeling  ;  she  declared  :  '^  Not  till  ye  again 
wage  war  against  Mohammed  and  his  fellows,  shall 
tears  flow  from  my  eyes  !  If  tears  would  wash  away 
grief,  I  would  now  weep,  even  as  ye ;  but  it  is  not  so 
with  me  ! " 

"  What  though  the  field  be  lost  ? 
All  is  not  lost  ;  the  unconquerable  will, 
And  study  of  revenge,  immortal  hate. 
And  courage  never  to  submit  or  yield  !  " 


XVII. 

VICTORY    FOR    MECCA. 

Mohammed  would  have  the  Moslems  believe  that 
angels  fought  for  them,  and  that  Satan  took  the 
part  of  the  Koreishites ;  but  it  was  not  the  being  of 
the  *'  unconquerable  will  "  that  Milton  painted  ;  it 
was  a  jinn  of  the  utmost  cowardice.  ''  Iblis  be- 
praised  their  works,  and  said  :  '  There  is  no  man  who 
can  prevail  against  you  this  day,  for,  verily,  I  am 
your  sworn  brother  !  '  When  the  two  troops  came 
face  to  face,  he  quickly  turned  his  heels  and  cried  : 
'  Verily,  I  am  quit  of  you  ;  verily,  I  see  that  which 
ye  do  not  see  ;  verily,  I  fear  Allah,  for  Allah  is  keen 
to  punish  !  '  "  The  arrant  coward  saw  the  thousands 
of  angels,  and  left  his  confederates  to  their  fate  ! 

By  such  a  fiction  Mohammed  impressed  his  fol- 
lowers with  the  belief  that  Allah  and  the  angels  were 
on  their  side,  that  Iblis  and  the  evil  jinns  were  with 
their  enemies  ;  that  it  was  the  sword  which  was  to 
prove  the  truth  of  his  mission.  Victory  in  battle 
was  his  only  trust  henceforth  ;  his  former  depend- 
ence upon  measures  of  peace  had  left  him  ;  no  seer 
is  needed  to  tell  what  the  harvest  is  to  be.  The 
Koreishites  had  been  defeated  not  because  they 
were  enemies  of  the  people  of  Medina,  but  because 


152  VICTORY  FOR   MECCA, 

they  were  opposed  to  the  rehgion  of  Allah  ;  and  this 
fact  which  the  prophet  impressed  upon  all  about  him 
had  its  lesson  for  those  who  still  refused  to  adopt 
Islam,  and  there  were  not  a  few  such  among  the  in- 
fluential citizens  besides  the  Jews.  The  first  among 
them  to  suffer  was  a  woman  who  composed  some 
couplets  that  went  from  mouth  to  mouth  in  Medina 
after  the  battle  of  Bedr,  in  which  the  folly  of  putting 
trust  in  one  who  had  killed  chief  men  among  his  own 
tribe  was  denounced.  In  the  dead  of  night,  sur- 
rounded by  her  little  ones,  this  woman  was  stricken 
by  the  dagger  of  an  assassin,  who  was  the  next  day 
applauded  by  Mohammed  in  the  mosque  for  his 
hideous  deed.  Some  weeks  after  this  another  versi- 
fier met  death  in  the  same  way,  at  the  direct  insti- 
gation of  the  prophet,  who  had  been  again  stung  by 
readily  remembered  poetry.  This  time  it  was  a 
pervert  to  Judaism,  and  his  taking  off  gave  those  of 
his  adopted  faith  new  cause  to  dread  the  anger  of 
Mohammed.  The  denunciations  of  the  Jews  in  the 
Koran  were  followed  by  their  persecution,  exile,  and 
slaughter,  until  they  were  all  removed,  and  the  suras 
contain  no  further  notices  of  them.* 

*  "  There  were  no  police,  or  law-courts,  or  even  courts-martial  at 
Medina  ;  some  one  of  the  followers  of  Mohammed  must  therefore  be 
the  executer  of  the  sentence  of  death,  and  it  was  better  it  should  be 
done  quietly,  as  the  executing  of  a  man  openly  before  his  clan  would 
have  caused  a  brawl,  and  more  bloodshed  and  retaliation,  till  the 
whole  city  had  become  mixed  up  in  the  quarrel.  If  '  secret  assas- 
sination '  is  the  word  for  such  deeds,  secret  assassination  was  a  neces- 
sary part  of  the  internal  government  of  Medina.  The  men  must  be 
killed,  and  best  in  that  way." — "  Studies  in  a  Mosque,"  by  Stanley 
Lane-Poole,  page  69. 


MOHAMMED  A    TRIUMPHANT  CHIEFTAIN.    I53 

While  these  and  other  petty  affairs  disturbed  the 
tranquillity  of  Medina,  the  wrath  of  the  Meccans  was 
only  smouldering.  The  chief,  whose  caravan  had 
been  saved  before  the  battle  of  Bedr,  had  vowed 
vengeance.  In  the  spring  following  that  event  he 
collected  a  small  force  and  made  an  ineffectual  raid 
towards  Medina  ;  was  chased  by  Mohammed,  and  in- 
gloriously  hastened  homewards  despite  his  terrible 
threats.  Each  of  the  two  hundred  fleet  horsemen 
who  accompanied  him  had  carried  at  his  saddle-bow 
a  sack  of  meal  as  his  provision  for  the  raid,  and  when 
the  leader  fled  each  threw  off  his  sack,  from  which 
circumstance  the  affair  has  been  called  the  Battle  of 
the  Mealsacks. 

Mohammed  was  no  longer  a  simple  prophet,  but 
had  become  a  triumphant  chieftain,  and  his  utter- 
ances changed  to  those  of  a  law-giver  and  king.  His 
simple  artlessness  of  living  and  behavior  did  not  de- 
sert him,  however,  in  spite  of  the  wishes  of  some  of 
his  followers  that  he  should  assume  some  thing  of  the 
royal  magnificence  of  the  other  rulers  of  the  East. 
When  one  spoke  to  him  on  the  subject,  he  replied : 
"  Art  thou  not  content  that  thou  shouldest  have  the 
portion  of  futurity,  and  they  the  portion  of  the  pres- 
ent life  ?  "  While  he  spoke  thus,  he  took  no  delight 
in  unnecessary  asceticism,  and  taught  that  Allah  was 
not  a  friend  of  those  who  wantonly  harm  their 
bodies  ;  he  permitted  the  weak  and  sickly  to  omit 
fasts,  and  to  shorten  the  prescribed  prayers  ;  and 
when  he  wished  any  necessary  thing  that  money  or 
power  could  obtain,  he  supplied  the  innocent  de- 
mand.    He  required  the  customary  reverential  salu- 


154  VICTORY  FOR   MECCA. 

tations  from  his  subjects,  placing  in  the  thirty-third 
sura  an  order  to  that  effect. 

About  a  year  after  the  victory  of  Bedr,  the  prophet 
was  in  the  mosque  at  Koba,  when  a  breathless  mes- 
senger startled  him  by  suddenly  appearing  at  his 
side  and  placing  in  his  hand  a  sealed  letter  from  his 
double-faced  uncle  Abbas,  who  informed  him  that 
the  hero  of  the  Battle  of  the  Mealsacks  was  again 
prepared  to  engage  in  hostilities.  The  caravan  that 
the  Meccans  had  saved  had  been  set  aside,  and  a  fund 
provided  with  which  a  powerful  army  was  equipped 
and  provisioned  ;  the  Bedawins  around  had  been 
called  upon  to  unite  in  a  determined  onslaught  upon 
the  threatening  Moslems  of  Medina  ;  and  even  then 
the  northward  march  had  begun.  Kindling  their 
fury  by  the  help  of  verses  chanted  to  the  music  of 
timbrels  by  women  who  had,  like  Hind,  the  Tear- 
less One,  so  loudly  demanded  war,  they  cried  out 
for  vengeance  as  they  marched  ;  they  devastated 
fields,  and  drove  the  frightened  farmers  before  them 
in  search  of  places  of  refuge.  Fugitives  brought  to 
the  prophet  exaggerated  estimates  of  the  vastness 
of  the  horde  that  was  approaching,  and  Medina  was, 
indeed,  alarmed.  Counsel  was  divided  ;  the  advan- 
cing army  seemed,  however,  to  loiter  by  the  way,  and 
the  time  was  employed  in  discussion  ;  the  result  was 
that  Mohammed  decided  to  gird  on  his  armor  and 
take  the  field  outside  the  city. 

After  the  Friday  prayers  had  been  said  in  the 
afternoon,  the  people  assembled  before  the  mosque 
armed  for  the  strife  ;  and  with  all  the  circumstance 
he   could    command,  the    prophet    issued    from   his 


THE  HAUGHTY  PROPHET  ARMED, 


155 


apartment,  his  sword  hanging  from  his  girdle,  a 
shield  slung  over  his  shoulder,  his  head  covered  with 
a  helmet,  and  his  body  with  mail  armor.  Now  was 
he  a  warrior  indeed  ;  but  his  people,  who  had  urged 
him  to  take  the  step,  seem  at  the  last  moment  to 


HELMET    OF   AN   ARABIAN    PRINCE    OF   EGYPT. 

have  feared  lest  harm  should  come  to  him,  and  asked 
him  to  listen  to  the  dictates  of  his  own  judgment. 
Haughtily  he  replied  to  their  request,  that  it  did  not 
become  a  prophet  to  lay  off  his  helm  when  once 
he  had  put  it  on,  until  Allah  had  decided  between 


156  VICTORY  FOR  MECCA. 

him  and  his  foe.     *'  Wait  on  Allah  !     Only  be  strong 
and  he  will  send  you  the  victory !  " 

Three  miles  to  the  northeast  of  the  city  the  seared 
and  jagged  flanks  of  Mount  Ohud  rise  from  a  bare 
and  sloping  plain  like  masses  of  iron  ;  and  on  its 
western  side,  the  prophet  took  up  his  position,  after 
tracing  his  path  through  the  fields  and  gardens  that 
lay  between.  It  was  Saturday  morning  and  as  day- 
light enabled  the  army  to  descry  the  hosts  from 
Mecca  in  the  distance,  the  faithful  muezzin  raised 
the  usual  call  to  morning  prayers,  and  the  prophet 
gave  his  followers  the  example  of  prostration  in  sol- 
emn worship.  When  this  was  over,  preparations  for 
the  onset  of  the  enemy  were  completed,  and  the 
struggle  was  begun  with  single  combats,  Mohammed 
starting  the  cry  "  Alahu  akbar !  Great  is  Allah !  " 
which  was  repeated  throughout  the  army  in  one  over- 
whelming shout  whenever  a  Moslem  champion  gained 
advantage.  Meantime  the  frenzied  women  of  Mecca 
urged  their  brethren  forward  with  song  and  timbrel : 

' '  Daughters  of  the  brave  are  we  ; 
On  carpets  step  we  softly  : 
Boldly  advance,  we  smile  on  you  ! 
Turn  your  backs,  we  shun  you, 
Shun  you  with  contempt  !  " 

The  combat  became  general ;  the  prophet's  men 
'  felt  that  they  had  made  an  impression  on  the  enemy, 
and  lost  some  of  their  impetuousity ;  the  enemy 
rallied  ;  the  cries  arose  from  the  Moslems  :  "  Amit ! 
Amitl"  '^  Death,  death!"  '' Help  is  from  Allah ! 
Victory  is  ours!"  the  enemy  staggered  for  a  mo- 
ment; then  a  stone  struck  out  a  front  tooth  of  the 
prophet ;  an  arrow  wounded  his  cheek  ;  Hamza,  the 


THE  DEFEA  T  AT  OHUD.  15/ 

Lion,  was  cut  down  ;  the  cry  resounded  among  the 
rocks  :  *'  The  prophet  is  slain !  Where  now  is  the 
promise  of  Allah  ?  '*  The  Moslems  were  flying  ;  the 
Meccans  cried  :  "  War  hath  its  revenges  ;  Ohud  suc- 
ceeds to  Bedr !  "     ''  Allah  is  ours  ;  he  is  not  yours  !  " 

The  Moslems  found  out  too  late  that  their  leader 
was  not  killed  ;  they  rallied  ;  but  the  day  was  lost, 
and  there  was  nothing  to  do  but  collect  the  wounded 
and  bury  the  slain.  The  prophet,  in  his  impotent  an- 
ger, cried  out :  ''  Let  the  wrath  of  Allah  burn  against 
the  men  who  have  besprinMed  the  apostle's  face  with 
his  own  blood  !  "  The  road  to  Medina  was  thronged 
with  men  and  women  hastening  to  nurse  the  wound- 
ed and  search  for  the  dead  ;  the  sister  of  Hamza 
among  them,  called  upon  the  prophet  for  her 
brother:  ''He  is  among  the  people,"  he  replied. 
She  found  the  mutilated  corpse  ;  sat  by  it  and  sob- 
bed;  Fatima  came  and  wept  also;  and  Mohammed 
vowed  deeper  vengence  against  his  enemies.  When 
prayers  were  said  over  the  closed  graves,  the  popula- 
tion, by  twos  and  by  threes,  sadly  and  silently  found 
their  way  back  to  the  desolate  and  downcast  city. 

If  the  victory  at  Bedr  had  been  a  mark  of  the  ap- 
proval of  Allah, what  was  the  defeat  at  Ohud?  Here 
was  a  question  that  demanded  answer  at  the  prophet's 
mouth.  The  people  murmured  at  the  loss  of  pres- 
tige ;  the  Jews  ventured  to  join  in  the  reproaches ; 
the  faithful  were  at  their  wit's  end ;  but  the  assur- 
ance of  the  prophet  was  equal  to  the  emergency. 

Be  not  cast  down,  neither  be  ye  grieved  ;  victory  will  yet  come, 
if  ye  are  true  believers  ;  if  ye  are  wounded,  verily,  your  enemy  is 
wounded  also  ;    these  battles  we  make  to  alternate  among  men,  that 


158  VICTORY  FOR  MECCA. 

Allah  may  know  the  believers,  .  .  .  No  soul  dieth  but  by  the 
permission  of  Allah,  written  down  for  the  time  appointed. 
And  truly  Allah  had  already  made  good  unto  you  his  promise,  what 
time  ye  cut  them  to  pieces  by  his  will,  until  ye  showed  cowardice  and 
wrangled  and  rebelled.  Amongst  you  are  those  who  love  this  world, 
and  amongst  you  are  those  who  love  the  next.  .  .  .  Verily  those 
of  you  who  turned  the  back  on  that  day  when  the  two  armies  met,  it 
was  but  Iblis  who  made  them  slip.  .  .  .  But  Allah  hath  for- 
given them,  for  Allah  is  forgiving  and  compassionate. — Sura  iii. 

We  are  to  picture  to  ourselves  the  venerable- 
prophet  coming  before  his  faithful  people  as  the 
spokesman  of  the  great  Allah  with  utterances  like 
these,  which  he  delivered  amid  the  deep  hush  that 
fell  upon  them  as  they  dropped  their  business  and 
politics  and  assumed  the  attitude  of  worshippers  in 
the  area  about  the  sacred  mosque.  With  the  pre- 
cision of  veterans  and  the  solemnity  of  devotees, 
they  follow  every  motion  of  their  leader ;  kneeling, 
prostrating,  almost  trembling,  in  unison,  as  the  awful 
words  purporting  to  come  from  the  throne  of  Allah 
fall  upon  their  ears.  No  scoffer  scoffs  within  this 
enclosure  ;  fear  dominates  every  heart ;  hell's  fires 
blaze  before  timid  eyes  at  the  magic  words  of  the 
prophet ;  Paradise  discloses  its  glories  as  his  voice 
conjures  up  its  well-known  delights  ;  life  sinks  into 
insignificance  as  eternity  opens;  and  the  Moslems 
walk  from  the  precincts  awe-stricken,  willing  to  stand 
or  fall  with  the  apostle ;  to  them  there  is  nothing 
worth  accepting, — joy,  wealth,  paradise,  death,  life, 
except  at  his  hands,  for  to  them  at  the  moment  he  is 
the  vicegerent  of  the  governor  of  the  universe.  Thus 
the  mystery  of  eloquence  and  the  power  of  mind  en- 
ables the  prophet  to  give  some  thing  like  the  effect 
of  victory  to  a  defeat. 


XVIII. 

THE    BATTLE    OF   THE   DITCH. 

The  importance  of  breaking  down  the  Jewish 
power,  to  which  reference  has  been  made,  was  so 
great  in  the  eyes  of  Mohammed,  that  he  devoted  an 
entire  sura  to  a  single  victory  which  he  gained  over 
the  Nadhir,  a  people  whose  rich  possessions  were  dis- 
tant three  miles  from  Medina.  Before  attacking; 
them,  the  prophet  sent -an  expedition  against  a  tribe 
that  ranged  over  the  great  central  tract  of  Arabia 
known  as  Nejd,  and  silenced  them  ;  he  crippled  an- 
other by  ordering  the  assassination  of  its  chief ;  and 
then  felt  prepared  to  turn  to  the  Nadhir,  cutting  off 
their  supplies  and  putting  their  chief  city  in  a  state 
of  siege  (a.D.  625).  It  was  not  long  before  they 
were  forced  to  offer  to  abandon  their  lands  to  the 
prophet,  and  when  the  proposition  was  accepted, 
they  gladly  emigrated  to  Syria,  carrying  with  them 
their  household  goods,  their  doors,  their  very  lintels. 
Singing  to  the  music  of  tabrets,  they  joyfully  took 
their  pilgrim-way  towards  Jericho.  The  prophet 
likewise  sang : 

That  which  is  heaven  and  that  which  is  in  the  earth  celebrates 
the  praises  of  Allah  :  he  is  the  mighty  and  the  wise.  He  it  is  who 
drove  out  the  People  of  the  Book,  who  believed  not,  to  join  the  for- 


l6o  THE  BATTLE   OF    THE  DITCH, 

mer  exiles.  Ye  thought  not  that  they  would  go  forth  ;  verily,  ihey 
thought  that  the  fortresses  would  defend  them  against  Allah,  but 
Allah  came  upon  them  from  a  quarter  unexpected  and  covered  their 
hearts  with  dread.  They  ruined  their  houses  with  their  own  hands 
and  with  the  hands  of  the  believers  :  wherefore,  take  warning,  ye 
who  can  see.  .  .  .  They  set  themselves  up  against  Allah  and 
his  prophet  ;  and  whoso  opposeth  Allah — verily,  Allah  is  keen  to 
punish  ! — Sura  lix. 

Not  long  after  the  defeat  at  Ohud,  Mohammed 
took  an  additional  wife,  who  was,  like  most  of  his 
others,  a  widow.  She  had  a  son,  to  whom  the 
prophet  promised  to  be  a  father.  Not  yet  satisfied, 
he  soon  afterwards  become  enamoured  of  Zeinab, 
the  handsome  wife  of  Zeyd,  his  own  adopted  son, 
and  she  proved  as  ambitious  to  share  the  prophet's 
home  as  he  was  to  take  her  to  wife.  When  Zeyd  sus- 
pected that  Mohammed  wished  his  wife,  he  did  not 
become  indignant,  but  very  willingly  divorced  her, 
with  the  proper  dutifulness  of  a  prophet's  son,  and 
an  apartment  was  built  for  her  adjoining  those  of 
Ayesha  and  the  others.  The  sense  of  propriety  of 
the  people  of  Medina  was  scandalized  by  this  union, 
not  because  they  saw  the  prophet's  harem  growing 
too  rapidly,  but  because  of  the  relationship  that  ex- 
isted between  Zeinab's  first  husband  and  her  second. 
It  was  to  allay  this  feeling  that  Mohammed  ''  re- 
ceived "  the  revelation  contained  in  the  thirty-third 
sura,  to  the  effect  that  Allah  does  not  consider 
adopted  sons  real  children,  and  that  no  offence 
ought  to  be  taken  because  Zeyd's  wife  was  joined 
to  Mohammed  after  Zeyd  had  voluntarily  divorced 
her.  This  "  revelation,"  which  was  in  reality  an  act 
of  legislation,  seems  to  imply  an  advance  or  change 


A  LI  AND  FA  TIM  A    MARRIED.  l6l 

in  the  Arabic  idea  of  relationship,  from  the  tube  (son 
by  adoption),  to  individual  (son  by  blood). 

This  revelation  made  the  favorite  Ayesha  not  un- 
naturally solicitous  lest  Zeinab  should  pride  herself 
overmuch  on  the  fact  that  she  was  given  to  the 
prophet  directly  by  Allah,  while  none  of  the  other 
wives  could  boast  such  an  honor.  Zeinab,  on  her 
part,  was  not  slow  to  perceive  the  advantage  that 
she  had  in  this  respect.  It  may  be  noted  here,  inci- 
dentally, that  Zeyd's  is  the  only  name  of  a  follower 
or  contemporary  mentioned  in  the  Koran. 

It  was  two  or  three  years  before  the  time  of  this 
marriage  (about  624),  that  Mohammed  gave  his 
daughter  Fatima  to  Ali  to  wife,  and  the  marriage  is 
one  to  be  remembered,  because  from  it  sprang  a  line 
of  great  importance  in  this  history.  Ali,  of  whom 
Mohammed  was  wont  to  say  :  ''  I  am  the  city  of  wis- 
dom, but  Ali  is  its  door,"  was  son  of  Abu  Talib ;  but 
had  been  brought  up  in  the  household  of  the  proph- 
et, and  was,  as  we  know,  one  of  his  first  disciples. 
Fatima  was  daughter  of  the  beloved  Kadija,  and 
was  one  of  the  '*  four  perfect  women  "  mentioned  by 
the  prophet.* 

The  attention  of  Mohammed  being  at  this  time 
directed  towards  the  subject  of  domestic  life,  he  made 
many  regulations  in  regard  to  it.  As  he  would  not 
have  fallen  in  love  with  Zeinab  had  he  not  acciden- 
tally seen  her  without  her  veil,  it  was  now  prescribed 
that  all  of  his  wives  should  veil  themselves  from  the 

*  At  about  this  time  (625)  Mohammed  declared  Mane  and  games  of 
chance  prohibited  {Sura  v.).  He  had,  however,  soon  after  coming  to 
Medina,  recommended  abstinence  froni  them  {Sura  ii.). 


i62  THE   BATTLE    OF  THE   DITCH. 

gaze  of  the  world ;  that  when  walking  out  they 
should  even  conceal  their  ornaments;  that  they 
should  not  harbor  feelings  of  jealousy  the  one  for 
the  others,  but  should  be  content  with  whatever 
share  of  his  society  the  prophet  should  give  them. 
The  faithful  were  warned  not  to  enter  the  apart- 
ment of  Mohammed  except  by  special  invitation  and 
not  to  indulge  in  familiar  discourse  there  ;  indeed, 
they  were  not  to  venture  into  any  dwelling  without 
first  asking  leave  and  offering  salutations  to  the 
family.  These  are  but  a  few  of  many  such  like  '*  re- 
velations "  as  to  conduct  made  in  the  suras. 

The  wives  of  Mohammed  were  henceforth  each  to 
be  honored  with  the  title  ''  Mother  of  the  Faithful," 
and  it  was  declared  that  it  should  be  unlawful  for 
him  to  add  to  their  number,  even  though  their 
beauty  might  please  him.  The  command  is  still  re- 
peated in  the  daily  service  ;  but  it  did  not  prove 
adequate  to  its  avowed  purpose  at  the  time  it  was 
promulgated,  and  has  of  course,  no  relevancy  what- 
ever to  present  affairs. 

At  about  this  time,  there  was  a  temporary  es- 
trangement from  Ayesha,  but  a  suspicion  upon 
which  it  was  based  was  removed  by  a  passage  in  the 
twenty-fourth  sura,  and  the  persons  who  had  calum- 
niated the  lady  were  scourged.  Ali  did  not  accept 
the  decree  establishing  the  innocence  of  Ayesha  with 
cordial  promptness,  and  thus  won  her  inalienable 
enmity  which  led  to  important  results  years  after 
the  prophet's  death.  The  occasion  was  embraced 
to  lay  down  rules  regarding  the  relations  between 
husbands  and  wives,  which  though  much  needed  in 


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ARABIAN   WOMEN,    WATER-CARRIERS. 


164  THE   BATTLE    OF  THE    DITCH. 

a  community  where  men  were  permitted  more  com- 
panions than  one,  were,  notwithstanding,  powerless 
to  insure  agreeable  relations  between  the  members  of 
a  household.  The  mother  of  Ayesha  struck  the  evil 
directly  when  she  tried  to  comfort  her  at  the  time 
of  her  calumniation  :  *'  It  is  not  often  that  a  woman, 
who  is  beautiful,  married  to  a  man  who  loves  her,  is 
free  from  scandals  raised  by  less  favored  and  less 
loved  wives."  Patience  is  the  only  resource  of  such, 
and  Ayesha  cried  out,  in  the  bitterness  of  her  soul : 
^' Allah  is  my  helper  !  " 

Military  operations  against  the  tribes  about 
Medina  were  frequent,  and  in  the  spring  of  62J,  the 
Meccans,  who  were  always  nursing  their  wrath  and 
preparing  themselves  to  break  forth  against  their 
exiled  prophet,  gathered  a  large  army,  comprising 
fifteen  hundred  camel-riders,  and  reaching  a  total  of 
some  ten  thousand  men,  to  march  towards  Medina. 
Mohammed  saw  that  he  could  not  successfully  go 
out  against  such  a  force,  and  that  there  was  no  al- 
ternative but  to  fortify  his  position  and  await  the 
onset.  He  erected  earthworks  and  dug  a  ditch,  him- 
self carrying  his  share  of  the  earth,  and  joining  in 
the  song  with  which  the  workers  endeavored  to 
cheer  themselves.  The  Arabs  had  up  to  this  time 
been  unaccustomed  to  any  style  of  warfare  that  al- 
lowed such  a  mode  of  defence  as  this,  and  the  Mec- 
cans taunted  Mohammed  with  his  pusillanimous  re- 
sort to  a  foreign  artifice  unworthy  of  a  free-fighter  of 
the  desert. 

Medina  was  surrounded  and  put  in  a  state  of  siege  ; 
there  was  great  alarm,  and  much  actual  suffering  for 


VENGEANCE   ON    THE   yEWS.  1 6$ 

a  brief  period  during  which  inconsequent  skirmishes 
marked  the  days  as  they  passed,  but  neither  side 
gained  any  positive  advantage.  The  Meccans  were 
encamped  on  the  heights  to  the  east  of  the  town 
and  in  the  lower  part  of  the  valley ;  and  as  the  Ko- 
ran expresses  it, 

The  enemy  came  down  upon  you  from  above  and  from  below  ; 
and  the  sight  of  the  eyes  was  obscured  ;  and  your  hearts  came  up 
into  your  throats  ;  and  ye  imagined  concerning  Allah  strange  imag- 
inations ;  there  were  the  believers  tried,  and  made  to  quake  with 
a  severe  quaking.  .  .  .  Remember  the  favors  of  Allah  towards 
you,  when  hosts  came  to  you,  and  we  sent  against  them  a  wind  and 
angels. — Sura  xxxiii. 

Strategy  was  worth  more  than  force  at  this  time, 
and  Mohammed  endeavored  with  success  to  create  a 
sense  of  mutual  distrust  among  his  enemies.  The 
forage  of  the  Koreishites  and  their  provisions  were 
falling  short,  and  they  became  tired  of  the  ineffectual 
siege.  At  this  juncture,  there  arose  one  night  a  very 
penetrating  and  chilly  wind,  which  upturned  the  tents, 
extinguished  the  fires,  and  made  the  besiegers  only 
too  happy  to  hasten  away.  The  prophet  was  quick 
to  teach  his  followers  that  Allah  had  interfered,  and 
the  streets  of  Medina  were  the  next  day  filled  with 
rejoicing  throngs,  uttering  the  paeans  of  victory. 

Among  those  who  had  taken  the  part  of  the  Kore- 
ishites, was  a  tribe  of  Jews,  the  Koreitza,  and  Moham- 
med now  hastened  to  take  vengeance  upon  them. 
The  People  of  the  Book,  were  difficult  to  suppress, 
and  after  every  punishment  that  they  received, 
seemed  to  start  up  in  a  new  quarter  to  harass 
the  Moslems.  Siege  was  laid  to  the  town  of  these 
latest  disturbers,  and  the  privations  of  the  inhabitants 


l66  THE   BATTLE  OF  THE  DITCH. 

soon  made  them  sue  for  peace  and,  finally,  surrender 
themselves.  After  the  travesty  of  a  trial,  the  men 
were  executed  by  the  hundred  with  the  most  heart- 
less deliberation,  and  the  women  and  children  sold 
into  slavery  in  exchange  for  horses  and  harness. 
Mohammed  seems  to  have  imitated  at  this  time  the 
directions  laid  down  in  the  Old  Testament,  as  at 
Deuteronomy  xx.,  i8,  where  the  Children  of  Israel 
were  instructed  not  to  leave  one  of  their  heathen 
enemies  alive,  but  to  utterly  destroy  them.  In  the 
thirty-third  sura  the  circumstances  of  this  butchery 
are  made  the  subjects  of  thankfulness,  and  it  is 
vaunted  as  done  by  the  direct  decree  of  Allah. 

The  Arab  at  this  time  was  a  devoted  believer  in 
spells,  enchantments,  and  the  evil  eye,  and  still  is, 
and  Mohammed  was  as  superstitious  in  this  respect 
as  any  of  his  countrymen.  In  the  chapter  entitled 
"  Of  the  Daybreak,"  he  exclaims  : 

I  seek  refuge  in  the  Lord  of  the  Daybreak  from  the  evil  of  what 
he  hath  created  ;  from  the  evil  of  darkness  when  it  covereth  the 
earth  ;  from  the  evil  of  women  blowing  upon  knots  ;  and  from  the 
harm  of  the  envious  when  he  envieth. — Stira  cxiii. 

The  customs  of  the  people  in  this  respect  are  illus- 
trated by  the  case  of  a  necromancer,  who,  just  before 
the  land  was  cleared  of  the  Jews,  injured  the  prophet 
as  was  believed,  by  mystic  enchantments.  He  took 
a  small  waxen  image,  wound  it  about  with  hairs  pro- 
cured from  the  prophet's  head,  pierced  it  with  eleven 
needles,  tied  eleven  knots  in  a  bowstring,  blew  upon 
each  knot  the  breath  of  the  mouth,  wound  the  cord 
around  the  effigy,  and  finally  sunk  it  in  the  bottom 
of  a  well  and  placed  a  stone  over  the  mouth.     Mo- 


MYSTIC   U^CHANTMEi^TS.  1 67 

hammed  began  immediately  to  suffer  from  a  lan- 
guishing illness,  against  which  no  remedies  were  effi- 
cacious until  the  incantation  was  discovered.  Day 
by  day  he  wasted  away,  but  the  ever-ready  angel 
Gabriel  came  to  his  rescue,  and  revealed  the  mys- 
tery. AH  discovered  the  image  in  the  well  ;  Mo- 
hammed repeated  over  it  the  eleven  verses  that 
form  the  last  two  suras  of  the  Koran,  which  were 
at  the  moment  ''  revealed  "  as  a  charm  against  simi- 
lar influences.  It  is  soberly  recorded  that  as  each 
verse  fell  from  the  prophet's  lips,  a  knot  loosened 
itself  from  the  bowstring,  a  needle  was  consequently 
released,  and  strength  returned  to  the  victim.  As 
the  last  needle  fell  away,  Mohammed  rose  in  health 
and  vigor,  as  though  he  had  himself  been  bound  by 
the  cords  and  pierced  by  the  needles.  These  two 
chapters  have  been  since  that  time  often  used  in  the 
same  way  ;  they  are  written  out  and  worn  as  amu- 
lets, or  committed  to  memory  and  repeated  as 
charms.  It  is  said  that  Mohammed  visited  the 
well  in  which  the  ^^^y  had  been  hidden,  and  found 
in  the  date-trees  about  it  resemblances  to  devils' 
heads !  He  caused  the  well  to  be  destroyed. 
Whether  having  any  foundation  in  fact  or  not, 
this  tale  well  illustrates  the  superstition  prevalent 
in  Arabia  at  the  time,  a  superstition  that  it  does  not 
become  us  to  be  surprised  at  when  we  reflect  upon 
the  persecutions  of  so-called  *'  witches  "  in  England 
and  America  that  history  records  with  horror,  perse- 
cutions that  took  placQ  centuries  after  the  days  of 
the  unlettered  prophet  of  the  desert. 


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XIX. 

EXILES    IN   AN   EMPTY   CITY. 

Mohammed's  position  was  now  strong ;  the 
Koreishites  of  Mecca  had  been  baffled  in  their 
attempts  to  overthrow  his  power  at  Medina  under 
circumstances  which  added  to  the  acuteness  of  their 
disappointment ;  the  Jews  had  been  terribly  harried 
and  finally  cast  out,  and  there  seemed  to  be  no  great 
impediment  to  the  extension  of  Moslem  power  to 
regions  beyond.  These  facts  made  it  all  the  more 
irritating  to  Mohammed  that  he  should  be  shut  out 
of  his  native  city  and  not  permitted  even  to  see  the 
sacred  Kaaba  nor  to  perform  there  the  devotions 
which  had  for  so  long  been  the  right  and  the  privi- 
lege of  his  clan.  The  six  years  that  had  elapsed 
since  last  he  had  been  inside  of  Mecca  had  been  a 
period  of  mental  anxiety  and  of  strife,  and  now  he 
longed  to  show  anew  his  devotion  to  the  ancient 
faith,  or  to  punish  those  against  whom  he  had 
launched  his  unfruitful  denunciations  in  the  name 
of  Allah,  for  obstructing  the  approach  of  the  pious 
worshippers.*  In  his  visions,  which  came  with  some 
of  the  ancient  fervor  in  view  of  these  thoughts,  he 
actually  entered  the  sacred  city,  and  performed  the 

*  See  the  second  Sura,  quoted  in  part  on  page  147. 


A   PILGRIMAGE    TO   MECCA.  1 69 

ceremonies  of  the  pilgrim  ;  when  he  awoke,  he  de- 
termined with  the  strong  will  of  the  first  years  of  his 
mission,  that  he  would  make  the  dream  a  reality. 

The  sacred  month  of  the  year  628  (assigned  for 
the  Lesser  Pilgrimage)  was  approaching  ;  in  it  war 
was  prohibited,  and  Mohammed  determined  to  make 
his  attempt  then,  because  he  thought  there  would 
be  less  opposition  to  his  enterprise  than  at  the  time 
of  the  Greater  Pilgrimage.  Every  precaution  was 
taken  to  ensure  the  expedition  against  the  opposi- 
tion of  the  Koreishites  :  the  number  of  pilgrims  was 
made  as  large  as  possible  by  inviting  the  people 
around  who  had  not  taken  the  prophet's  part  to 
join  in  the  ceremonies,  in  which,  though  idolators, 
they  had  the  same  national  interest  as  the  Moslems. 
Every  effort  was  made  to  give  a  peaceful  appearance 
to  the  caravan ;  while  the  numbers  were  sufficient  to 
enable  it  to  protect  itself,  if  necessary,  against  any 
military  demonstration  whatever.  Seventy  camels 
were  prepared  to  be  taken  for  sacrifices ;  the  appro- 
priate mark  was  set  upon  their  right  sides,  their 
necks  were  hung  with  ornaments,  and  their  heads 
were  turned  toward  the  holy  city.  Mohammed  pre- 
pared himself  for  the  occasion  by  permitting  his  hair 
and  nails  to  grow ;  he  refrained  from  all  ordinary 
luxuries,  renounced  the  perfumes  which  he  so  much 
enjoyed  ;  dressed  himself  in  the  ihram,  and  appeared 
before  his  people,  when  ready  for  the  journey,  armed 
only  with  the  sheathed  sword  of  the  pilgrim. 

The  Koreishites  naturally  doubted  the  peaceful 
nature  of  this  unusual  demonstration  ;  but  they 
feared  to   oppose  it  with  force,  though  absolutely 


l^O  EXILES  M  AN-  kMPTY  CiTY. 

determined  to  forbid  the  entrance  of  the  would-be 
pilgrims  to  their  city.  Mohammed,  on  his  part,  was 
not  willing  to  precipitate  hostilities,  and  when  one  of 
his  spies  reported  that  the  enemy  was  encamped  not 
far  from  him,  clothed  in  panther's  skins,  emblematic 
of  their  fixed  determination  to  fight  to  the  last  like 
beasts  of  prey,  he  turned  from  the  usual  route  and 
passed  with  difficulty  through  an  unfrequented 
defile  over  a  rough  road  to  the  verge  of  the  sacred 
territory.  All  at  once  the  march  was  arrested  by 
the  refusal  of  the  prophet's  camel  to  proceed  farther. 
It  was  the  same  beast  that  had  carried  Mohammed 
from  Mecca  six  years  before  ;  it  was  the  same  which 
had  marvellously  refused  to  enter  Medina  and  had 
pointed  out  at  Koba  the  spot  for  the  mosque ;  and 
any  intimation  from  her  was  certain  to  be  considered 
almost  equal  to  a  revelation  that  could  not  lightly 
be  ignored,  even  though,  as  in  the  present  instance, 
it  might  be  the  evident  result  of  fatigue. 

"  The  beast  is  weary  and  balky,"  said  the  Moslems. 

**  No,  she  is  neither  balky  nor  weary,"  said  Mo- 
hammed, "  but  the  hand  that  held  back  Abraha  in 
the  Year  of  the  Elephant,  and  kept  him  from  enter- 
ing Mecca,  now  restrains  her :  if  the  Koreishites 
make  any  demand  of  me  this  day,  I  shall  grant  it,  by 
the  name  of  Allah  !     Let  the  caravan  halt !  " 

*'  There  is  no  water  here,  O  prophet,"  they  ex- 
claimed ;  '*  how  can  we  halt  ?  " 

Without  a  word,  Mohammed  ordered  that  an 
ancient  well,  then  covered  with  sand,  should  be 
opened,  and  to  the  surprise  of  all,  water  bubbled  up 
so  rapidly  that  those  at  the  top  of  the  well  were  able 
to  draw  it  with  ease. 


172  EXILES  m  AN-  EMPTY  CITY, 

It  was  not  long  before  negotiations  were  opened 
with  the  Meccans,  and  Mohammed  sent  positive 
assurances  that  he  had  only  peaceful  intentions. 
One  of  the  envoys  of  the  Koreishites  reported  at 
Mecca  that  he  had  been  at  the  court  of  Persia  and 
had  visited  the  proud  emperor  at  Constantinople, 
but  that  he  had  never  seen  such  respect  for  a  sover- 
eign as  the  Moslems  showed  towards  Mohammed. 
Did  he  wash  his  hands,  the  water  became  in  their 
eyes  holy ;  did  he  pare  his  nails,  the  scrap  was  caught 
up  as  a  sacred  relic ;  did  a  hair  fall  by  chance  from 
his  locks,  a  follower  was  certain  to  throw  himself 
upon  the  ground  to  secure  it ;  should  a  person  but 
touch  his  beard,  it  was  accounted  an  act  of  sacrilege. 

An  envoy  of  the  prophet  was,  during  the  negotia- 
tions, detained  at  Mecca  longer  than  was  expected, 
and  Mohammed,  suspecting  treachery,  gathered  his 
followers  beneath  an  acacia,  and  called  upon  them 
one  by  one  to  pledge  by  a  solemn  oath,  confirmed  by 
striking  hands  with  him,  that  they  would  stand  by 
the  absent  one,  as  well  as  by  the  cause,  to  the  death. 
The  Pledge  of  the  Tree,  as  this  is  called,  is  mentioned 
in  the  Koran — "Allah  beheld  with  satisfaction  the 
believers  who  gave  thee  their  hand  in  the  oath  of 
allegiance  beneath  the  tree  "  (Sura  xlviii.), — and  all 
who  took  part  in  the  ceremony,  which  excited  both 
religious  feeling  and  warlike  spirit  of  the  strongest 
sort,  were  proud  to  refer  to  it  in  after  days 

The  trial  of  this  loyalty,  so  romantically  asserted, 
was  unnecessary,  for  the  envoy  soon  appeared  safe 
and  sound,  and  the  Koreishites,  fearing  the  result  of 
a  battle,  announced  their  willingness  to  enter  into  a 


A   DISAPPOINTMENT,  1/3 

treaty  under  which  future  pilgrimages  should  be  per- 
mitted, though  they  refused  to  allow  the  prophet  to 
enter  their  city  at  that  time.  Mohammed,  equally 
apprehensive,  willingly  refrained  from  pressing  for- 
ward, and  the  sura  entitled  ''  The  Chapter  of  Vic- 
tory "  was  revealed  : 

Verily,  we  have  given  thee  a  manifest  victory  !  That  Allah  may 
pardon  thee  the  sin  that  is  past  and  that  which  is  to  come.      .     . 

The  desert  Arabs  who  were  left  behind  shall  cry,  "  Our  wealth  and 
our  people  occupied  us  ;  ask  pardon  then,  for  us.  .  .  .  Let  us  fol- 
low you  !  " 

Allah  it  was  who  restrained  the  hands  of  the  Koreishites  from  you 
and  your  hands  from  them,  in  the  mid-valley  of  Mecca,  after  he  had 
given  you  the  victory  over  them  ! 

It  was  not  this  sort  of  a  "  victory  "  that  the  Mos- 
lems had  looked  for,  and  they  were  sadly  disappointed 
when  Mohammed  returned,  after  sacrificing  the  de- 
voted camels,  and  performing  as  many  of  the  duties 
of  the  pilgrim  as  were  practicable  at  a  distance 
from  Mecca  ;  though  he  was  right  in  feeling  that  he 
had  achieved  an  important  act.  He  had  been  recog- 
nized by  those  who  had  thrust  him  out,  as  a  power 
to  be  feared  and  treated  with,  and  this  filled  his 
mind  with  the  audacious  ambition,  inspired  by  ig- 
norance of  the  greatness  of  the  project  and  by  an 
almost  insane  confidence  in  his  own  apostleship,  to 
summon  all  the  nations  of  the  world  to  bow  to 
Islam. 

In  this  spirit,  Mohammed  caused  a  signet  ring  to 
be  engraved  with  the  words  *'  Mohammed,  the  Apos- 
tle of  Allah,"  and  commissioned  messengers  to  visit 
the  courts  of  Chosroes,  king  of  Persia,  whose  son 
Siroes,  after  murdering  his  father,  was  soon  to  con- 


174  EXILES  IN  AN  EMPTY   CITY, 

elude  a  treaty  of  peace  with  the  Roman  Empire  ;  of 
the  Roman  emperor  Heraclius  himself,  then  returning 
from  his  Persian  campaign  ;  of  the  rulers  of  Abys- 
sinia, Syria,  and  Egypt ;  and  of  the  Christian  tribes 
of  Yemen.  These  sovereigns  cared  little  for  such  a 
message  from  a  son  of  the  desert  of  whom  they 
could  know  little,  and  they  treated  it  lightly,  proba- 
bly thinking  that  It  did  not  merit  the  honor  of 
serious  discussion. 

The  Moslems  did  not  recover  from  their  dissatis- 
faction with  the  *' victory  "  over  the  Meccans,  and 
Mohammed  found  that  he  must  in  some  way  appease 
the  longing  for  plunder  that  he  had  roused,  but  had 
not  satisfied.  He  looked  earnestly  for  some  act  of 
aggression  on  the  part  of  a  surrounding  tribe  which 
might  give  him  excuse  for  a  raid,  but  none  occurred, 
and  at  last,  after  months  of  waiting,  he  determined 
to  make  an  attack  upon  the  fertile  lands  of  some 
Jews  at  Keibar,  living  at  a  distance  of  three  or  four 
days'  march  to  the  northeast  of  Medina.  Fortified 
towns  dotted  their  pleasant  land,  and  nature  smiled 
upon  them  as  they  cultivated  their  farms  which  they 
had  occupied  from  ancient  times,  though  surrounded 
by  a  people  to  whom  permanence  of  habitation  was 
almost  unknown.  They  were  with  good  reason  im- 
placable enemies  of  the  Moslems,  and  they  labored 
unceasingly  to  stir  up  against  them  the  Bedawin 
tribes  with  whom  they  had  an  ancient  alliance. 
Against  these  people  Mohammed  set  out  with  a 
powerful  force.  One  by  one  the  strongholds  fell 
before  him,  until  at  last  he  found  himself  confronted 
by  a  fortress  more  redoubtable  than  any  that  Moslem 


BOOTY  FROM    THE    JEWS.  1/5 

arms  had  ever  encountered.  It  seemed  probable  that 
it  could  resist  all  efforts  that  might  be  made  against 
it ;  the  siege  was  long,  and  it  was  not  until  the  com- 
mand had  been  given  to  Ali,  son  of  Abu  Talib,  that 
success  was  attained  (a.D.  628).  The  usual  shedding 
of  blood  followed,  though  the  carnage  was  not  so 
horrible  as  on  some  other  occasions,  and  the  rich 
booty — rich  beyond  all  former  experience — was  di- 
vided among  the  happy  warriors.  It  included  money, 
jewels,  herds  of  camels  and  flocks  of  sheep  ;  honey, 
oil,  dates,  grain,  and  every  sort  of  treasure  that  the 
Arabian  valued ;  and  all  the  murmurs  that  the  so- 
called  "  victory  "  over  the  Meccans  had  given  rise  to 
were  turned  into  glad  acclaim. 

Now  the  Moslems  were  in  a  proper  state  of  mind 
to  enjoy  the  promised  pilgrimage  to  Mecca  ;  and  as 
the  time  approached  elaborate  preparations  were 
again  made  (a.D.  629).  Sixty  camels  were  driven 
in  advance,  the  company  comprised  several  hundred 
more  persons  than  had  formed  the  caravan  of  the 
previous  year,  and  each  was  armed  as  agreed,  with  a 
sword  only  ;  though  as  a  precautionary  measure,  a 
large  quantity  of  armor  was  carried  separately.  Mo- 
hammed well  understood  the  treacherous  character 
of  the  Arabians,  but  the  precaution  he  took  was  not 
necessary  at  this  time,  for  the  Koreishites  adhered 
faithfully  to  the  terms  of  the  treaty.  Instead  of  in- 
terfering, the  inhabitants  with  one  accord  left  their 
homes,  climbed  the  hillsides,  and  sheltered  them- 
selves beneath  tents  and  other  temporary  dwellings, 
looking  down  as  opportunity  permitted,  to  see  the 
strange  ceremonial  that  was  performing  in  the  streets 


1/6  EXILES  IN  AN  EMPTY  CITY. 

they  had  deserted.  When  before  had  there  been 
such  a  scene  ?  When  since  ?  When  did  a  populace 
go  out  of  their  houses  to  permit  a  body  of  reHgion- 
ists  to  whose  observances  they  were  hostile,  enter  in 
and  occupy,  not  their  streets  and  their  houses  only, 
but  their  very  temples  and  their  altars? 

The  devotees, — let  us  look  at  them.  There  is  the 
prophet  himself,  dressed  in  the  ihram,  proudly  riding 
into  his  native  place,  still  upon  the  faithful  camel 
that  bore  him  northward  seven  years  before  to  the 
place  of  refuge.  Can  we  imagine  his  thoughts,  as  he 
remembers  his  flight  with  Abu  Bekr,  and  the  three 
days  in  the  mountain  cave  ?  Behind  him  are  the 
many  followers,  shouting  the  pilgrim-cry  of  exulta- 
tion as  their  long  repressed  feelings  are  allowed  free 
utterance,  and  hurrying  to  perform  the  tawaf,  imita- 
ting the  rapid  motion  of  their  leader,  that  the  look- 
ers-on may  know  that  their  vigor  has  not  been  less- 
ened by  their  journey.  The  prophet  touches  the 
holy  black  stone  gently  with  his  staff  as  he  passes  it, 
and  the  crowd  cry  aloud, 

"  There  is  no  god  but  Allah  !  He  hath  upholden  his  servant  and 
exalted  his  army.  He  alone  hath  discomfited  the  hosts  that  were  con- 
federate against  him  !  " 

The  words  echo  and  re-echo  through  the  little  val- 
ley, and  the  host  is  newly  stimulated  by  the  sound 
of  its  own  voices.  The  next  day  the  prophet  wor- 
ships in  the  Kaaba  until  the  hour  of  the  mid-day 
prayer,  when  his  muezzin  ascends  to  the  place  ap- 
pointed, and  vociferates  the  Moslem  call  to  worship, 
and  Mohammed  conducts  the  service  in  the  form 
familar  at  Medina, 


THE    GREAT  KALID    CONVERTED.  ly^ 

For  three  full  days  the  Meccans  adhere  to  their 
promise,  but  then  they  warn  Mohammed  that  the 
allotted  time  is  over,  and  that  he  must  return  from 
his  holy  mission.  The  prophet  endeavors  to  concili- 
ate the  chief  men  towards  Islam,  but  in  vain  ;  they 
will  have  none  of  it.  Still,  Mohammed  saw  enough 
to  convince  him  that  the  Koreishites  did  not  hold 
their  former  power,  and  he  knew  that  his  own  pres- 
tige was  much  enhanced  by  this  pilgrimage,  both  in 
Mecca  and  at  Medina.  When  he  reached  his  home, 
at  the  opening  of  April,  629,  he  felt  stronger  and 
more  confident  than  ever  before. 

If  the  Koreishites  as  a  tribe,  held  aloof  from  Mo- 
hammed he  was  successful  in  winning  the  allegiance 
of  two  important  men  among  them, — Kalid,  a  war- 
rior famous  for  his  prowess  and  strategy  at  the  bat- 
tle of  Ohud,  well  known  as  the  "  Sword  of  Allah," 
and  Amr,  who  was  destined  to  carry  the  standard  of 
the  prophet  into  foreign  lands.  These  men  came  to 
Medina  in  June  to  accept  the  rising  faith,  and  their 
acquisition  to  the  cause  gave  it  a  new  strength  at 
Mecca  also,  where  it  now  took  a  place  by  the  side  of 
the  ancient  worship,  as  something  to  be  mentioned 
with  respect  if  not  with  reverence. 


XX, 


THE    MOTHER    OF   CITIES    CONQUERED. 


The  letters  that  Mohammed  wrote  to  foreign  po- 
tentates cannot  be  said  to  have  accomplished  much 
in  bringing  him  and  his  mission  before  the  world, 
though  the  time  was  rapidly  approaching  when  the 
Moslem  should  be  known  everywhere.  It  was  very 
little  like  what  the  world  calls  war,  to  fight  as  the 
Bedawins  fought, — to  meet  an  enemy  on  the  open 
desert  where  there  was  no  embarrassment  from  walls 
and  ditches  ;  but  this  was  the  the  sort  of  warfare  that 
the  Moslems  had  practiced  up  to  the  eighth  year  from 
the  Hejra.  Little  did  the  prophet  know  of  the  tac- 
tics of  the  Romans,  and  of  the  implements  of  war 
used  by  those  great  nations  of  the  earth  of  which  he 
had  only  heard  enough  to  embolden  him  to  summon 
them  to  submit  to  Islam. 

Among  the  envoys  that  Mohammed  had  sent  to 
call  the  nations  to  obedience  was  one  who  went  to 
Bostra,  on  the  road  to  Damascus,  near  the  eastern 
borders  of  Palestine,  familiar  to  the  prophet  since 
his  early  experience  in  the  caravan  trade.  Syria 
was  at  the  time  under  Roman  dominion,  though 
probably  law  was  not  very  well  established  any- 
where   in    its   limits.     This    envoy  had   fulfilled  his 

178 


OPPOSING    THE   ROMAN  EMPIRE.  1/9 

mission,  how  effectually  we  are  not  told,  and  was  re- 
turning to  Medina,  when  he  was  arrested  and  put  to 
death  at  Muta,  a  place  three  days'  journey  east  of 
Jerusalem,  by  order  of  a  Christian  ruler  of  the  tribe 
of  Ghassan,  who  represented  the  emperor  Heraclius. 
Such  an  indignity  was  not  to  be  suffered  without  re- 
monstrance, and  Mohammed,  nothing  daunted  by 
the  prestige  of  Roman  power,*  hastened  to  raise  an 
army  of  some  three  thousand  men,  the  command  of 
which  he  confided  to  his  beloved  Zeyd,  supported  by 
a  number  of  valiant  soldiers,  among  whom  were  the 
two  latest  converts  from  Mecca  (September,  629). 

Gaily  and  with  confidence,  the  little  army  set  forth 
from  Medina,  the  prophet  accompanying  it  a  short 
distance  and  expressing  his  farewell  in  the  words, 
'*  Allah  shield  you  from  every  harm,  and  bring  you 
back  in  peace,  rejoicing,  with  much  spoil !  "  The  en- 
terprise was  no  secret,  and  word  was  speedily  carried 
to  the  representative  of  Heraclius  in  Palestine  that 
the  Moslems  were  on  the  march.  The  former  petty 
raids  of  Mohammed  had  probably  served  to  unite 
the  inhabitants  of  the  region  in  some  league  for 
mutual  defence,  and  it  was  not  difificult  to  collect 
an  overpowering  force  to  repel  the  invaders,  consist- 
ing, so  some  writers  assert,  of  one  hundred  thousand 
men.  The  Moslem  authorities  add  that  Heraclius 
himself  led  the  army,  but  that  seems  hardly  credible. 

*  The  prophet  had  no  doubt  been  diligently  watching  the  course  of 
the  war  [between  Rome  and  Persia]  which  is  once,  at  least,  directly 
alluded  to  in  the  Koran.  [Sura  xxx.]  He  could  but  see  tlie  immense 
advantage  which  he  gained  by  finding  the  two  greatest  powers  of  the 
world  utterly  exhausted  by  the  tremendous  struggle." — E.  A.  Free- 
man, "  History  and  Conquests  of  the  Saracens,"  page  24. 


l8o       THE  MOTHER    OF  CITIES   CONQUERED. 

When  Zeyd  reached  the  extreme  southeast  hmit  of 
Palestine,  on  the  borders  of  the  Arabian  desert,  he 
learned  of  the  reception  that  was  prepared  for  him, 
and  called  a  council  of  war,  in  which  some  were 
for  sending  a  letter  to  Mohammed  for  advice,  since 
the  enemy  was  so  much  more  formidable  than  had 
been  expected  ;  but  a  poet  among  them  cried  out^ 
''  We  fight  for  the  faith  !  If  we  fall  the  joys  of  Par- 
adise are  ours.  On,  to  victory  or  to  martyrdom !  " 
With  the  fire  of  fanaticism  and  the  daring  of  the 
Bedawin,  the  host  marched  forward  crying,  "  By  Al- 
lah !  thou  speakest  truth  !  Onward  !  "  But  when  the 
glittering  armor  and  the  vast  numbers  of  the  ap- 
proaching host  were  revealed  to  them,  they  fell  back 
in  dismay,  and  were  pressed  down  by  the  solid  Ro- 
man phalanx.  Zeyd  seized  the  white  flag  of  the 
prophet,  and  led  his  men  to  the  struggle,  until  the 
lances  of  the  enemy  brought  him  to  the  dust ;  leader 
after  leader  followed  his  example,  but  the  Moslems 
were  forced  back  and  back  ;  there  was  no  hope. 

Then  Kalid,  the  "  Sword  of  Allah,"  won  the  right 
to  his  name.  The  men  who  but  a  moment  before 
had  been  chanting 

"  Paradise  !  Oh  paradise  !  how  fair  a  resting-place  !  Cold  is  the 
water  there  and  sweet  the  shade  !  Rome  !  Rome  !  the  hour  of  thy 
w:oe  draweth  nigh  !  When  we  close  with  her, we  shall  hurl  her  to  the 
earth  !  " 

now  thought  that  they  were  doing  well  if  they  fol- 
lowed the  skilful  manoeuvres  of  their  new  leader  in 
retreat. 

None  dared  to  counsel  delay,  but  with  one  mind 
all  hurried  towards  Medina,  where  they  were  greeted 


A     VICTORY  INDEED.  l8l 

with  shouts  of  derision  :  '^  Ah,  ye  runaways  !  Do  ye 
indeed  flee  before  the  enemy  when  fighting  for 
Allah  ?  "  It  was  a  sad  downfall  and  cut  Moham- 
med to  the  quick.  However,  he  soon  sent  Amr  into 
the  field,  who  restored  the  lost  prestige,  and  many 
Bedavvin  tribes  bowed  to  Islam  (October,  629).  As 
the  number  of  subjected  clans  increased  so  did  the 
ambitious  projects  of  Mohammed  grow. 

If  it  had  been  a  'Victory"  to  gain  simple  permis- 
sion to  enter  Mecca  and  sojourn  three  brief  days  in 
the  enjoyment  of  the  ancient  religious  privileges, 
what  would  it  be  to  become  master  of  the  Sacred 
City  and  to  hold  it  against  the  world  ?  Thoughts 
like  this  played  through  the  prophet's  mind  as  he 
contemplated  the  increasing  number  of  his  loyal  sub- 
jects, and  he  longed  for  the  day  when  a  pretext 
should  be  presented  him  under  which  he  could  at- 
tack the  city  of  his  birth.  It  came  not  long  after  the 
retreat  from  Muta. 

The  Koreishites  became  involved  in  an  attack 
upon  the  Kozaites,  a  tribe  that  had  ranged  them- 
selves among  the  partisans  of  Mohammed,  and  a 
deputation  from  the  injured  people  called  upon  the 
prophet  for  help.  The  Koreishites  were  much 
alarmed,  and  sent  their  chief,  the  same  who  had 
before  besieged  Medina  and  had  scoffed  at  Moham- 
med as  an  impostor,  to  sue  for  peace.  It  was  a  sore 
trial  to  this  proud  man  thus  to  plead  with  his  despised 
enemy,  it  was  still  more  mortifying  to  him  to  find 
that  Mohammed  was  determined  to  give  him  no  sat- 
isfaction whatever;  and  harder  still  on  his  return  to 
Mecca  to  be  received  with  insults  by  his  own  people 
because  he  had  failed  at  Medina. 


l82       THE  MOTHER    OF  CITIES   CONQUERED. 

Scarcely  had  this  envoy  left  Medina,  when  Moham- 
med began  with  the  utmost  secrecy  to  prepare  for  an 
attack  upon  Mecca ;  he  gathered  the  largest  force 
that  the  city  had  ever  put  into  the  field  ;  and  on  the 
first  of  January,  630,  the  march  began.  The  prophet 
prayed  publicly  :  ''  O  Allah  !  let  no  spy  treacherously 
bear  tidings  to  the  Koreish  ;  blind  them,  that  they 
see  not  until  I  come  upon  them  suddenly  and  sieze 
them  unawares  !  "  The  prayer  was  not  impressive 
enough  to  keep  one  of  the  most  trusted  among  the 
Moslems  from  sending  a  letter  to  Mecca  by  a  woman 
named  Sara,  who  for  ten  pieces  of  gold,  undertook 
the  venturesome  duty.  She  was  overtaken  on  the 
way  by  Ali ;  the  letter  was  found  hidden  in  her  hair, 
and  the  writer  discovered  and  summoned  before  the 
prophet.  He  asserted  that  he  was  a  true  believer, 
but  that  having  a  wife  and  children  at  Mecca,  he  had 
sent  the  warning  in  order  to  ensure  protection  for 
them,  Mohammed  pardoned  him,  but  the  opening 
verses  of  sura  sixty  were  revealed  to  warn  others 
against  doing  likewise : 

O,  ye  faithful !  take  not  my  enemies  and  yours  for  patrons  ;  if  ye 
show  mercy  to  them,  they  will  reject  the  truth  that  has  been  revealed 
to  you.  They  will  thrust  you  from  them,  the  apostle  and  you,  because 
you  have  faith  in  Allah. 

When  ye  go  forth  from  your  hearths  fighting  valiantly  for  Islam, 
will  ye  show  favor  to  them  ?  I  know  what  you  conceal  at  the  bottom 
of  your  hearts,  and  what  you  bring  to  the  light  of  day.  He  who  in- 
terests himself  in  the  cause  of  the  infidel,  he  it  is  who  has  wandered 
from  the  strait  path. 

The  worldly-wise  idolator  Abbas,  who  had  up  to 
this  time  refused  to  bow  to  Allah,  now  saw  that  his 
nephew  was  on  the  road  to  power.     He  came  out 


A    MESSAGE    TO  MECCA.  1 83 

from  Mecca,  where  he  had  controlled  the  distribution 
of  the  waters  of  Zemzen,  claiming  that  he  had  for  a 
long  time  been  a  true  Moslem  at  heart.  Mohammed 
received  him,  saying  in  gentle  irony,  ''  The  last  of 
the  prophets  greets  the  latest  of  the  emigrants  !  " 
When  the  heights  overlooking  Mecca  had  been 
reached,  Mohammed  ordered  his  ten  thousand  fol- 
lowers each  to  light  a  watch-fire,  and  hoped  thus  to 
strike  sudden  fear  into  the  sleeping  inhabitants.  It 
happened  that  the  chief  of  the  Koreishites,  he  who 
had  been  repulsed  with  indignity  by  the  prophet, 
walked  forth  that  night  to  reconnoitre ;  in  the  dark 
he  was  met  by  Abbas,  who,  also  had  gone  out  to  see 
if  by  any  chance  he  might  do  something  to  save  the 
devoted  city  from  slaughter.  "  Yonder,"  said  Abbas, 
as  he  pointed  to  the  myriad  fires,  '^  is  Mohammed  en- 
camped with  ten  thousand  followers  ;  believe,  and 
cast  in  thy  lot  with  us,  or  thy  mother  and  thy  clan 
shall  shed  tears  for  thee  !  " 

In  the  morning  the  captured  chieftain,  threatened 
with  immediate  death,  was  brought  before  the  proph- 
et, after  whom  he  tremblingly  repeated  the  creed  of 
Islam,  and  was  sent  back  to  his  home  by  Moham- 
med, who  said  :  "  Every  Meccan  who  is  found  in 
thy  dwellihg,  and  all  who  take  refuge  in  the  Kaaba ; 
and  whosoever  shutteth  the  door  of  his  own  house 
upon  his  family,  shall  be  safe :  haste  thee  home ! " 
As  he  departed,  Mohammed  gave  the  signal  for  his 
army  to  march,  but  with  fearful  anticipations.  His 
constrained  convert,  had,  however,  been  true :  as 
soon  as  he  entered  the  city,  he  cried :  "  Mohammed 
is  upon  us,  O  ye  Koreishites  !  •  Whoso  entereth  my 


184       THE   MOTHER    OF   CITIES   CONQUERED. 

house  shall  be  safe  this  day ;  whosoever  shutteth  his 
door  upon  himself  shall  not  be  harmed  ;  whosoever 
entereth  the  holy  Kaaba  shall  find  refuge !  " 

When  Mohammed,  mounted  on  the  same  camel 
that  had  so  faithfully  carried  him  on  other  occasions, 
rode  into  the  city,  his  heart  rose  in  thankfulness,  for  he 
saw  empty  streets  again,  and  knew  that  his  reception 
was  to  be  peaceful.  It  is  greatly  to  his  praise  that  on 
this  occasion,  when  his  resentment  for  ill-usage  in  the 
past  might  naturally  have  incited  him  to  revenge,  he 
restrained  his  army  from  all  shedding  of  blood,  and 
showed  every  sign  of  humility  and  thanksgiving  to 
Allah  for  his  goodness.  Kalid,  it  is  true,  did  meet 
force  with  force  at  one  point,  but  he  was  rebuked  by 
Mohammed. 

The  prophet's  first  labor  was  the  destruction  of 
the  idol-images  in  the  Kaaba,  and  after  that  had 
been  done  he  ordered  his  original  muezzin  to  sound 
the  call  to  prayer  from  the  top  of  the  Kaaba,  and 
sent  a  crier  through  the  streets  to  command  all  per- 
sons to  break  in  pieces  every  image  that  they  might 
possess.    (January,  630.) 

Ten  or  twelve  men  who  had  on  a  former  occasion 
shown  a  barbarous  spirit,  were  proscribed,  and  of 
them  four  were  put  to  death,  but  this  must  be  con- 
sidered exceedingly  humane,  in  comparison  with  the 
acts  of  other  conquerors  ;  in  comparison  for  example, 
with  the  cruelty  of  the  Crusaders,  who,  in  1099,  put 
seventy-thousand  Moslems,  men,  women,  and  help- 
less children,  to  death  when  Jerusalem  fell  into  their 
hands  ;  or  with  that  of  the  English  army,  also  fight- 
ing under  the  cross,  which,  in  the  year  of  grace,  1874, 


A   MERCIFUL    CONQUEROR, 


185 


burned   an   African  capital,  in  its  war  on  the  Gold 
Coast.     Mohammed's  victory  was  in  very  truth  one 
of  religion  and  not  of   politics  ;    he  rejected  every 
token   of  personal   homage,  and   declined   all    regal 
authority ;     and    when    the    haughty    chiefs   of   the 
Koreishites  appeared  before  him  he  asked  : 
'*  What  can  you  expect  at  my  hands  ?  " 
"■  Mercy,  O  generous  brother." 
^*  Be  it  so  ;  ye  are  free  !  "  he  exclaimed. 


XXI. 

HOW    TAIF   WAS    BESIEGED    AND    TAKEN. 

Among  the  tribes  that  yet  resisted  the  claims  of 
Islam,  the  most  important  were  the  Bedawins  who 
ranged  the  hill-country  to  the  south  and  east  of 
Mecca,  brethren  of  some  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
strong  city  of  Taif,  to  which  the  prophet  had  gone 
to  preach  when  he  thought  that  his  mission  was  to 
be  rejected  by  his  own  kinsfolk.  The  people  of  Taif 
were  devoted  to  their  idols,  and  as  their  relations 
with  Mecca  were  close,  and  the  distance  between  the 
two  cities  not  great,  they  feared  lest  Mohammed,  in- 
spired by  his  easy  conquest,  might  descend  upon 
them.  Accordingly  they  determined  to  check  his 
arrogance,  and  assembled  for  counsel  in  a  mountain- 
valley  northeast  of  Taif. 

The  chiefs  said  :  ''  The  Koreishites  are  mere  traf- 
fickers, and  know  not  how  to  make  war ;  they  have 
naturally  been  overcome  easily  ;  proud  of  his  suc- 
cess, the  prophet  will  now  make  plans  to  subjugate 
us  ;  let  us  forestall  his  schemes  and  march  upon  him 
before  he  has  time  to  make  an  attack."  The  advice 
found  favor,  and  an  army  was  quickly  gathered.  Of 
these  facts  Mohammed  had  prompt  knowledge,  and 
collected  the  forces  that  he  had  brought  with  him, 

i86 


A    VICTORY  AT  HONEIN.  1 87 

to  which  two  thousand  more  were  added  from  the 
wilUng  people  of  the  holy  city,  and  four  weeks  from 
his  unexpected  appearance  at  Mecca,  he  began  his 
march-towards  the  new  enemy,  his  followers  exult- 
ing as  they  gazed  at  the  array  of  flaunting  banners 
and  the  long  lines  of  troops. 

The  leader  of  the  Bedawins  was  a  young  warrior 
who  thought  to  inspire  his  soldiers  with  deadly  de- 
termination by  causing  their  wives  and  children, 
their  flocks  and  herds  to  follow  in  the  rear  ;  though 
one  of  the  aged  chiefs  when  he  learned  of  the  plan, 
uttered  an  expression  of  disgust  and  exclaimed, 
''  When  fear  overtakes  a  soldier,  nothing  will  stop 
his  flight ;  if  we  conquer,  these  women  and  children 
will  be  only  an  embarrassment  ;  if  we  fail,  they  will 
be  prey  for  the  enemy  ;  alas,  we  are  dishonored, 
ruined  !  " 

The  armies  met  on  the  first  of  February,  630,  in  a 
valley  called  Honein,  behind  Arafat  ;  the  first  onset 
threw  the  Moslems  into  confusion,  and  notwithstand- 
ing the  desperate  efforts  of  Mohammed  to  reassure 
them,  it  seemed  as  though  certain  defeat  was  to  be 
their  fortune,  in  spite  of  their  overwhelming  num- 
bers ;  the  band  from  Medina  proved  steady,  how- 
ever, and  the  Moslems  rallied  before  it  was  too  late, 
utterly  routing  the  Bedawins  and  capturing  their 
women  and  children.  There  were  taken  six  thou- 
sand prisoners,  twenty-four  thousand  camels,  forty 
thousand  sheep  and  goats,  and  four  thousand  ounces 
of  silver  ;  and  Mohammed  resolved  to  press  on  to 
Taif,  confident  that  his  troops,  inspired  by  a  victory 
Sp  much  greater  than  they  had  ever  before  known, 


1 88      HOW  TAIF  WAS  BESIEGED  AND  TAKEN. 

would  feel  strong  to  attack  even  so  well  fortified  a 
place  as  that.  In  the  ninth  sura,  he  alludes  to  the 
victory  at  Honein,  attributing  the  first  repulse  to 
over-confidence  in  numbers,  and  the  final  success  to 
the  angelic  aid  that  he  was  ever  ready  to  promise 
and  direct  his  followers  to  expect : 

Verily,  Allah  hath  holpen  you  in  many  a  battle  ;  and  on  the  day 
of  Honein,  when  ye  were  so  puffed  up  by  the  multitude  of  our  host, 
though  that  did  not  give  you  strength  ;  the  valley  was  too  strait  for 
you,  though  it  was  truly  broad.     Ye  turned  your  backs  and  fled. 

Then  Allah  sent  down  his  grace  upon  his  prophet  and  upon  the 
faithful,  and  hosts  that  ye  saw  not,  and  punished  the  misbelievers  ; 
for  that  is  the  reward  of  the  unfaithful. 

The  city  of  Taif  is  situated  in  the  midst  of  a  ter- 
ritory of  much  fertility  ;  it  is  a  veritable  oasis  among 
barren  mountains,  and  rejoices  in  the  richness  and 
abundance  of  its  fruits  ;  at  this  time  it  was  surround- 
ed by  high  and  broad  walls,  and  was  supplied  with 
enough  water  and  provisions  to  last  for  many 
months.  Mohammed's  efforts  were  fruitless  against 
strong  masonry,  and  after  a  time  he  determined  to 
weaken  his  enemy  by  devastating  the  gardens  and 
orchards  about  the  city.  This  work  was  entered 
upon  with  vigor,  but  the  besieged  expostulated,  and 
the  prophet  graciously  desisted  ;  though  at  the  same 
time  he  proclaimed  that  all  slaves  who  might  flee 
from  the  city  to  him  should  be  free.  Only  twenty- 
two  embraced  the  offer,  and  the  people  of  Taif  lost 
no  courage  on  account  of  so  small  a  defection. 

Mohammed  continued  his  efforts  for  twenty  days, 
but  then  determined  to  withdraw,  confident  that  the 
city  was,  as  one  of  his  followers  expressed  it,  ''  like  a 


A   MOB  IJSr  MED  IMA.  1S9 

fox  in  its  hole ;  if  you  remain  long  enough  you  will 
take  it,  if  you  leave  it,  it  cannot  harm  you."  An  op- 
portune dream  supported  this  view  of  the  case,  and 
saying :  "  We  shall  return  again,  by  the  will  of 
Allah,"  Mohammed  retired  with  his  army,  making 
presents  to  the  Bedawins  who  professed  allegiance 
to  him,  and  returning  to  them  their  wives  and  chil- 
dren which  had  been  captured  at  Honein. 

The  prophet's  mercy  was  politic,  but  it  was  none 
the  less  mercy  ;  it  gained  friendship  for  Mohammed 
at  the  south,  but  aroused  jealousy  and  discord  among 
the  Moslems.  The  prophet  was  mobbed  by  those 
who  thought  that  they  had  been  deprived  of  their 
just  share  of  the  captives.  Calling  around  him  the 
men  of  Medina  whose  friendship  he  much  appre- 
ciated, he  said,  ''  Hearken,  O  ye  men  of  Medina  ! 
When  I  came  unto  you,  were  ye  not  wandering,  and 
did  I  not  bring  harmony  to  you  ?  Were  ye  not  in 
error,  and  I  turned  you  to  the  truth  ?  Were  ye  not 
poor,  and  I  made  you  rich  ?  " 

"  It  is  even  as  thou  sayest  ? "  they  honestly 
replied. 

*'  Nay,  more,  by  Allah  !  Ye  might  have  answered, 
'  Thou  camest  to  us  stigmatised  as  a  liar,  and  yet  we 
believed  thee  ;  thou  camest  a  fugitive  and  we  shel- 
tered thee  ;  an  outcast,  and  we  gave  thee  a  home  ; 
destitute  and  we  gave  thee  meat.'  Think  ye  that  I 
do  not  feel  all  this  ?  Ye  complain  that  I  give  gifts 
to  these,  and  not  to  you  :  I  give  them  worldly  goods 
to  win  their  worldly  hearts  ;  to  you,  the  true,  I  give 
my  own  heart :  they  return  home  with  sheep  and 
camels  ;  ye  go  back  with  the  prophet  of  Allah  ;  for. 


190      HO IV  TAIF  WAS  BESIEGED  AND  TAKEN. 

by  him  in  whose  hand  are  the  souls  of  us  all,  though 
the  whole  world  should  go  one  way  and  ye  another, 
I  would  never  leave  you  !  Which  have  I  most 
rewarded  ?  " 

*'  O  prophet  of  Allah  !  "  they  cried  through  their 
rising  tears,  ""  we  are  content  !  " 

For  twelve  days  Mohammed  rested  at  the  place 
where  the  spoil  of  Honein  had  been  divided,  and 
then  returned  to  Mecca  dressed  in  the  ihram,  to  per- 
form the  rites  of  the  lesser  pilgrimage.  This  was 
early  in  March,  630.  At  the  end  of  the  same  month, 
he  re-entered  Medina.  In  the  course  of  his  journey 
the  prophet  passed  the  spot  where  fair  Amina,  his 
mother,  had  fallen  by  the  way  so  many  years  before, 
and  filial  feeling  brought  tears  to  his  eyes  at  the 
sight  of  her  tomb.  Just  then  the  words  were  revealed 
to  him, 

"  Let  not  the  prophet  nor  other  believers  ask  pardon  for  idolaters, 
though  of  their  own  kindred." 

He  prayed  Allah  to  allow  him  to  offer  a  prayer  for 
his  mother,  but  the  request  was  not  granted.  He 
must  have  sincerely  believed  that  an  intimation  of 
the  heavenly  will  was  sent  to  him,  and  he  said  sadly, 
"  I  asked  Allah  that  I  might  visit  my  mother's  grave, 
and  he  permitted  it.  I  asked  that  I  might  pray  for 
her,  and  he  denied  me." 

His  long  postponed  desire  for  a  son  was  gratified 
by  the  birth  of  Ibrahim,  child  of  a  Coptic  maid, 
Mary,  who  had  been  given  to  him  as  a  slave  by  the 
governor  of  Egypt.  The  wives  were  very  jealous  of 
Mary,  as  the  mother  of  the  prophet's  only  son,  and 
he  in  turn  became  much  displeased  with  them.    The 


A    YOUNG    COPTIC    WOMAN. 


192      HOW   TAIF    WAS  BEStKGED  AND    TAKEN: 

sixty-sixth  sura  was  "  revealed  "  as  a  warning  to  the 
refractory  spouses,  who  were  therein  told  of  the 
two  wicked  wives  of  these  good  men  Noah  and 
Lot,  to  whom  it  was  said,  on  their  approach  to  the 
other  life,  ''  Enter  W\^  fire  with  those  who  enter!" 

The  beloved  son  died  at  the  age  of  fifteen  months, 
and  the  father,  who  had  been  devotedly  attached  to 
him,  mourned  with  sincerity,  but  with  resignation. 
There  was  an  eclipse  of  the  sun  at  the  time,  which 
the  people  thought  was  occasioned  by  the  sadness  of 
nature  in  consequence  of  the  child's  death ;  but  the 
prophet  nobly  said,  "  The  sun  and  the  moon,  are 
signs  appointed  by  Allah  ;  but  they  are  not  eclipsed  on 
the  death  of  any  mortal :  when  ye  observe  an  eclipse, 
betake  yourselves  to  prayer  until  it  passeth  away." 

The  conquest  of  Mecca  gave  Mohammed  great 
spiritual  power,  and  in  its  train  came  absolute  secu- 
lar jurisdiction.  The  raising  of  the  siege  of  Taif  did 
not  detract  from  his  prestige  ;  he  was,  in  fact,  so 
crowded  with  embassies  from  the  various  tribes 
which  wished  to  unite  their  fortunes  with  his,  that 
the  ninth  year  after  the  Hejra  was  called,  in  conse- 
quence, "  The  Year  of  the  Deputations." 

Among  these  emissaries  were  fourteen  men  be- 
longing to  a  Christian  tribe,  who  came  to  see  what 
Islam  was  and  to  form  a  judgment  of  its  merits. 
They  were  received  by  Mohammed  in  the  mosque, 
and  an  opportunity  was  given  them  for  conference, 
which  turned  entirely  upon  the  second  person  in  the 
Trinity,  concerning  whom  the  deputies  cited  pas- 
sages in  the  Gospels.  To  these  the  prophet  opposed 
verses  from  the  Koran,  such  as  these  : 


THE    ORDEAL    OF    THE    CURSIMG. 


193 


Verily,  the  likeness  of  Jesus  to  Allah  is  as  the  likeness  of  Adam  : 
he  created  him  from  the  earth,  and  said  to  him,  "  Be,"  and  he  was  ; — 
truth  from  Allah,  so  be  thou  art  not  of  those  who  doubt.  And 
whoso  disputeth,  after  the  truth  had  come  to  thee,  say,  "  Come,  let 
us  call  our  sons  and  your  sons,  and  our  wives  and  your  women,  and 
ourselves  and  yourselves,  and  let  us  call  down  the  curses  of  Allah 
upon  those  that  lie." 


VIEW    OF    MEDINA. 


Verily,  this  is  true,  there  is  no  god  but  Allah,  and  he  is  the 
mighty  and  the  wise  ;  but  if  they  turn  back, — Allah  knoweth  the 
evil  doers  ! 

The  ordeal  of  the  Cursing,  or  the  Judgment  of 
Allah,  was  agreed  upon  as  a  means  of  settling  the 
discussion,  and  an  open  place  outside  of  the  city  was 
chosen  for  the  ceremony.  When  the  morrow  ar- 
rived,  Mohammed  presented   himself,   accompanied 


194    BOW  TAIF  WAS  BESIEGED  AND  TAKEN. 

by  Fatima  and  Ali  and  their  two  sons ;  but  the 
Christians  were  not  to  be  seen  ;  they  had  been  turned 
from  their  purpose  through  fear  of  the  terrible 
punishment  that  would  fall  upon  them  in  case  of 
failure,  at  least  so  the  Moslem  historians  assert.  It 
is  added  that  the  prophet  graciously  offered  to  allow 
them  to  return  to  their  homes  after  they  should  prom- 
ise to  pay  him  an  annual  tribute,  or  renounce  their 
religion.  They  chose  the  tribute,  and  it  may  well 
be  questioned  whether  they  ever  really  consented  to 
the  ordeal,  which  must  have  certainly  appeared  to 
them  an  unsatisfactory  mode  of  settling  a  theologi- 
cal dispute,  though  history  records  many  ordeals 
quite  as  absurd,  which  were  familiar  to  Christian 
peoples  in  Europe  centuries  after  this  epoch. 

The  mosque  of  the  prophet  at  Medina  now  be- 
came the  centre  of  busy  life  ;  embassies  were  re- 
ceived there ;  there  tithes  and  tribute  were  paid  ; 
there  disputes  were  discussed  and  settled  ;  and  there 
honors  and  powers  were  conferred  upon  those  who 
came  to  submit  to  Islam.  Mohammed  was  now  well 
known  in  all  quarters  of  his  native  land,  and  his  fol- 
lowers began  to  be  counted  by  thousands. 

While  the  inhabitants  of  castle  after  castle  and 
city  after  city  were  thus  hastening  to  win  the  favor 
of  the  vicegerent  of  Allah,  the  stubborn  people  of 
Taif  still  bowed  their  heads  only  to  their  idols,  and 
trusted  to  their  strong  walls  and  mountain  heights 
to  make  them  secure  from  the  vengeance  that  the 
mild  words  of  the  prophet  plainly  warranted  them 
to  expect,  if  they  did  not  embrace  Islam.  As  time 
wore  on,  they  began  to  feel  that  their  position  was 


A   COMPLETE   SURRENDER.  I9S 

no  more  strong  than  it  was  lonely,  for  they  found 
themselves  surrounded  by  a  constantly  narrowing 
cordon  of  believers,  and  it  was  at  last  impossible  for 
them  to  venture  beyond  their  walls  in  safety. 
The  "  fox  "  had  remained  long  enough  in  its  hole, 
and  now  was  to  be  caught.  The  people  sent  embas- 
sadors to  Mohammed  to  ask  conditions  of  peace. 
He  declined  to  listen  to  any  terms  but  the  complete 
surrender  of  their  idols,  and  submission  to  Islam. 
The  emissaries  were  willing  to  embrace  the  faith 
themselves,  they  said,  but  pleaded  that  a  sudden 
revolution  might  shock  the  people  of  Taif  ;  might 
they  not  be  allowed  to  worship  the  idols  three  more 
years  ? 

"  No  !  "  replied  the  prophet. 

"  May  we  not  have  a  month's  time  in  which  to 
prepare  the  minds  of  the  people  !  " 

''  No  !  Allah  cannot  be  served  by  those  who  bow 
to  idols." 

"  May  our  people  at  least  be  absolved  from  the 
oft-repeated  daily  prayers  ?  " 

"  There  is  no  true  religion  without  prayer,"  was 
the  only  answer. 

Upon  this  a  surrender  was  made,  and  a  messenger 
was  sent  to  destroy  the  famous  idol  of  stone  in  the 
temple  at  Taif.  It  was  left  in  fragments  on  the 
earth,  surrounded  by  weeping  women  lamenting  the 
fall  of  their  hopes. 

It  was  during  this  year  (a.D.  630)  that  word  carne 
to  Medina  from  the  north  that  the  Romans  and 
their  allies  in  Syria  were  gathering  a  host  to  march 
upon    the    Moslems,    and     Mohammed    determined 


196     HOiV  TAIF  WAS  BESIEGED  AJ^D  TAJtJSN. 

upon  the  most  ambitious  enterprise  that  he  had  yet 
engaged  in.  He  made  no  secret  of  his  real  inten- 
tions, but  boldly  called  upon  the  faithful  to  gather 
under  his  banner,  and  an  army  of  thirty  thousand 
warriors  was  formed,  which  set  out  under  the  per- 
sonal command  of  the  prophet,  AH  being  left  at 
Medina  to  care  for  his  family  and  exercise  the  duties 
of  governor.  No  such  force  had  probably  been  seen 
in  Arabia,  and  it  marched  with  great  difficulty  over 
burning  sands  and  through  regions  destitute  of 
water.  Desertions  were  not  infrequent,  but  they 
were  not  sufficient  to  reduce  the  vast  numbers  ma- 
terially, and  the  expedition  struck  fear  into  the  dwel- 
lers along  its  line  of  march.  Many  tribes  came  to 
offer  their  allegiance,  and  the  great  army  that  Rome 
was  supposed  to  have  prepared  was  not  encoun- 
tered ;  whether  its  commanders  were  alarmed  by  the 
rumors  of  the  force  sent  against  it,  or  whether  Mo- 
hammed sagaciously  kept  out  of  its  range,  cannot  be 
determined.  True  it  is  that  the  spirits  of  the  Moslem 
army  were  dampened,  and  when  the  campaign  was 
but  partially  completed,  Mohammed  called  a  council 
of  war,  at  Tabuk,  in  the  course  of  which  he  asked 
Omar  whether  the  advance  should  continue  or  not. 

"  If  thou  hast  the  command  of  Allah  to  go  for- 
ward, advance  !  "  he  replied. 

"  If  I  had  received  the  command  of  Allah,  I  should 
not  have  asked  Omar  !  "  the  prophet  responded. 

The  usual  rejoicings  were  heard  in  Medina  when 
the  prophet  returned  from  this  expedition,  though 
all  the  populace  could  not  join  in  them,  because 
many  had  refused  the  invitation  to  go  to  Syria,  and 
some  had  even  ventured  to  rail  at  the  prophet  for 


''SELL  NOT   THINE  ARMS!''  IQ/ 

undertaking  it.  One  had  cried  out,  ''  Verily  the 
prophet  thinks  it  a  matter  of  sport  to  go  to  fight 
the  Romans  ;  but  he  will  find  it  different  from  war- 
ring with  the  desert  tribes.  A  fine  season,  this,  indeed, 
to  march  over  the  deserts  in  defiance  of  the  heat  of 
the  sun  and  the  dryness  of  the  burning  sands  !  " 
Against  such,  a  passage  in  the  ninth  sura  was  revealed  : 

Those  who  staid  behind,  were  glad  of  their  holding  back  from 
the  prophet  of  Allah,  and  refused  to  fight  sharply  with  their  goods 
and  their  strong  arms  for  the  cause  of  Allah,  and  said,  "  Go  not  forth 
to  war  in  the  heat  !  "  Say,  the  fire  of  Gehenna  is  a  fiercer  heat,  if  ye  but 
knew  !    Verily,  they  shall  laugh  little  and  weep  much  as  their  reward  ! 

The  sura  bristles  with  sharp  utterances  aimed  at 
those  who  held  back  from  this  memorable  expedi- 
tion, which  had,  however,  so  effectually  established 
the  prophet's  authority  to  the  northward  that  some 
of  the  Moslems  were  on  the  point  of  selling  their 
arms,  as  though  all  need  of  them  in  the  propagation 
of  Islam  were  at  an  end.  Mohammed  saw  farther 
into  the  future  than  his  disciples,  and  said,  "  Sell  not 
thine  arms ;  verily  there  shall  not  cease  from  the 
midst  of  my  people  a  fighting  band,  no,  not  till  Anti- 
christ *  shall  come !  " 

*  The  Moslems  say  that  the  Jews  give  Antichrist  the  name  "  Mes- 
siah ben  David,"  and  pretend  that  in  the  last  days  he  is  to  restore  the 
kingdom  to  them.  He  is  to  appear  somewhere  between  Irak  and 
Syria,  is  to  be  followed  by  thousands  of  Jews,  and  will  lay  waste  all 
places  except  Mecca  and  Medina.  See  Sales  Koran,  "  Preliminary 
Discourse,"  section  iv.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was  formerly  custom- 
ary for  Christians  to  speak  of  Mohammed  as  Antichrist.  On  this 
Professor  Freeman  says  :  ' '  Whether  Mahomet  be  personally  the 
Antichrist  of  Scripture,  I  do  not  profess  to  determine,  but  I  do  know 
that  his  religion,  approximating  as  it  does  so  closely  to  Christian- 
ity, without  being  Christian,  has  eventually  proved,  above  all  others, 
emphatically  Antichristian."  "  The  History  and  Conquests  of  the 
Saracens,"  page  72, 


XXII. 

A    FAREWELL    PILGRIMAGE. 

Idolatry  was  now  reluctant  to  lift  its  head 
among  the  tribes  of  Arabia  from  distant  Hadramawt 
to  the  Gulf  of  Akaba ;  but  Islam  had  not  made 
great  progress  in  the  valley  of  the  Euphrates,  in 
Mesopotamia,  or  in  Syria,  and  offensive  rites  were 
still  mingled  with  the  observances  of  the  faithful 
during  the  holy  months  at  Mecca.  Mohammed 
found  it  repugnant  to  his  feelings  to  be  present  on 
such  occasions,  and  he  therefore  sent  Abu  Bekr  at 
the  time  of  the  greater  pilgrimage  to  sacrifice  thirty 
camels  in  his  name  in  the  valley  of  Mina,  in  the 
spring  of  the  year  631.  Three  hundred  pilgrims  ac- 
companied him,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  great  assem- 
blage that  gathered  he  preached  to  the  people  the 
rites  and  doctrines  of  Islam. 

At  the  height  of  the  ceremonies  Abu  Bekr  was 
surprised  to  see  Ali  rise  in  the  assembly,  and  an- 
nounce himself  a  special  messenger  from  the  prophet. 
Scarcely  had  the  pilgrims  left  Medina  when  a  "  rev- 
elation "  of  the  utmost  gravity  was  made  to  Moham- 
med, and  this  it  was  which  he  had  committed  to  Ali 
for  publication,     Abu  Bekr  protested    in   vain  that 


''KILL    THE  IDOLATERS!"  1 99 

he  was  in  command  of  the  pilgrimage,  and  AH  pro- 
ceeded to  declare  his  message  : 

"  A  RELEASE  by  Allah  and  his  prophet  from  obligations  to  those 
idolaters  with  whom  ye  have  leagued  yourselves. 

"  Go  ye  [idolaters]  to  and  fro  in  the  land  securely  for  four  months, 
but  know  that  ye  cannot  contravene  Allah,  and  that  Allah  will  verily 
bring  the  misbelievers  to  naught. 

"A  PROCLAMATION  from  Allah  and  his  prophet  unto  the  peo- 
ple on  the  day  of  the  greater  pilgrimage  ;  lo,  Allah  is  quit  of  the 
idolaters  and  his  prophet  also     .     .     . 

"When  the  forbidden  months  have  passed,  then  kill  the  idolaters 
wheresoever  ye  find  them  ;  take  them  captive,  besiege  them,  and  lay 
wait  for  them  in  every  place  convenient  .  .  .  How  can  there  be 
to  the  idolaters  a  treaty  with  Allah  and  with  his  apostle,  save  to  those 
with  whom  ye  have  made  a  league  at  the  sacred  Kaaba  ?     .     .     . 

"  Will  ye  not  fight  a  people  who  broke  their  oaths,  and  intended  to 
expel  the  apostle  ?  They  began  with  you,  at  first, — are  ye  afraid  of 
them  ?     .     .      .     If  ye  be  believers,  kill  them  !     .     .     . 

"It  is  not  for  idolaters  to  enter  the  house  of  Allah.  .  .  .  He 
only  shall  enter  who  believes  in  Allah  and  in  the  last  day,  and  is 
steadfast  in  prayer  and  gives  alms.  .  .  .  Take  not  your  fathers 
nor  your  brethren  for  associates  if  they  love  misbelief  and  hate  the 
true  faith.  ...  If  your  fathers  and  your  sons  and  your  brethren 
and  your  wives  and  your  clansmen,  and  the  wealth  which  ye  have 
gained,  and  your  merchandise  which  ye  fear  may  be  slow  of  sale,  and 
the  dwellings  wherein  ye  delight,  are  dearer  to  you  than  Allah  and 
his  prophet,  than  fighting  sorely  in  his  way, — then  wait,  and  see  the 
salvation  of  Allah,  for  Allah  careth  not  for  a  generation  that  worketh 
abomination.     .      .     , 

"  Verily  the  misbelievers  are  unclean  ;  wherefore,  let  them  not 
approach  the  holy  Kaaba  after  this  year  ;  and  if  so  be  ye  fear  want 
from  the  stoppage  of  traffic,  verily,  Allah  will  make  you  rich  ;  for 
surely  Allah  is  knowing  and  reasonable. 

"  Attack  the  idolaters  in  all  the  months,  as  they  fight  you  in  all  !  " 

— Sura  ix. 

When  the  pilgrims  had  finished  their  duties,  they 
returned  to  their  near  and  remote  homes,  and  all 
Arabia   soon   learned    the   lesson   that   the  Moslem 


200  A    FAREWELL    PLLGRIMAGE. 

never  forgot : — ''  Fight !  fight !  fight !  Let  no  idolater 
perform  the  pilgrimage  !  Keep  no  faith  with  them  ! 
Kill  them'  by  fair  means,  beguile  them  by  stratagem  ; 
disregard  all  ties,  blood,  friendship,  humanity, — 
sweep  the  misbelievers  from  the  face  of  the  earth, — 
in  the  name  of  Allah  and  of  the  prophet !  "  The 
sword  had  been  unsheathed  before  ;  now  there  was 
to  be  no  quarter,  no  rites  of  refuge,  no  sanctuary  in 
the  sacred  months.  Verily,  the  prophet  appreciated 
the  foundation  that  had  been  laid  for  building  up  his 
already  strong  sovereignty. 

Vast  is  the  power  of  the  man  who  is  at  once  king 
and  priest,  who  can  speak  with  the  authority  of  a 
prince,  and  add  to  his  temporal  laws  the  force  de- 
rived from  threats  of  punishment  in  a  future  world. 
Mohammed  at  Medina  was  a  king  ;  at  Mecca  he  was 
a  priest  ;  but  in  both  cities  he  presented  himself  to 
his  admiring  vassals  as  powerful  in  time  and  in 
eternity,  as  holding  authority  over  both  body  and 
soul.  The  meditation  of  his  early  years,  the  mild 
faith  in  his  mission  that  dominated  his  middle  age, 
both  had  given  way  before  a  fanaticism  which  over- 
whelmed him  in  these  his  final  months. 

As  his  political  and  priestly  power  thus  increased, 
he  found  that  age  was  slowly  making  its  inevitable 
inroads  upon  his  vigor,  and  he  announced  his  de- 
termination to  perform  both  the  lesser  and  the 
greater  pilgrimage  in  the  year  632,  hoping  to  accom- 
plish some  thing  more  in  the  way  of  confirming  his 
religion  by  his  personal  presence  than  was  possible 
to  effect  through  any  deputy  however  closely  allied 
to  him, 


MOHA  MM  ED  A  T  MECCA .  20 1 

The  prophet  had  not  performed  the  greater  pil- 
grimage, since  his  emigration  to  Medina,  and  the 
announcement  of  his  intention  created  a  veritable 
sensation  throughout  all  the  regions  around  ;  a  vast 
concourse  eagerly  craved  the  privilege  of  accom- 
panying him,  and  five  days  before  the  opening  of 
March  (the  month  of  the  lesser  pilgrimage  that 
year),  he  donned  the  ihram  and  started  for  the  holy 
city,  followed,  according  to  the  lowest  estimate,  by 
eighty  thousand  men  ;  with  all  of  his  wives  around 
him  in  litters,*  and  driving  before  him  many  camels 
adorned  with  festive  garlands,  ready  for  the  sacri- 
fices. As  the  long  cortege  passed  from  one  halting- 
place  to  another,  Mohammed  frequently  uttered 
prayers,  ascribing  praises  and  honor  to  Allah,  and 
declaring  again  and  again  his  unity. 

*'  Behold  me,  O  Allah  !  To  thee  belongeth  the  all 
honors,  all  praises,  all  power  !     Thou  art  ONE  !  " 

His  first  visit  upon  reaching  Mecca  was  made  to 
the  Kaaba,  where  he  devoutly  kissed  the  black  stone, 
and  lifted  up  his  voice  in  earnest  prayer  for  continual 
blessings  upon  the  edifice.  He  performed  the  usual 
duties  of  both  pilgrimages  with  the  utmost  scrupu- 
lousness, for  he  wished  to  leave  to  the  people  a  pat- 
tern which  they  might  copy  in  ages  after  he  was 
gone,  and  he  sealed  the  whole  with  the  words, — 

"  This  day  have  I  perfected  your  religion  unto  you, 
and  fulfilled  my  mercy  upon  you,  and  appointed  Is- 
lam for  you  to  be  your  religion  forever." 

*  It  has  not  been  found  necessary  for  the  purposes  of  this  story  to 
give  the  names  of  all  of  the  prophet's  wives,  in  fact  the  list  is  not  the 
same  in  the  various  histories,  but  the  number  had  now  probably  risen 
to  fifteen,  including  those  who  had  been  taken  away  by  death. 


202  A   FAREWELL   PILGRLMAGE. 

On  one  of  the  days,  he  took  a  prominent  position 
among  the  pilgrims  and  addressed  them  somewhat  as 
follows  : 

"  O  ye  People !  Hearken  unto  my  words !  I 
know  not  that  ever  I  shall  speak  to  you  here 
again. 

"  Your  lives  and  your  goods  are  sacred  among  you 
until  the  end  of  time. 

**  You  must  one  day  appear  before  Allah  to  give  an 
account  of  your  doings. 

"  Let  every  man  be  faithful. 

''  No  more  shall  vengeance  be  allowed  for  blood 
shed  in  the  days  of  your  idolatry. 

**  Ye  husbands  have  rights  and  ye  wives,  ye  have 
rights.  Husbands,  love  your  wives,  and  nourish 
them. 

**  I  leave  you  a  law  that  shall  always  preserve  you 
from  error ;  a  law  clear,  positive, — a  Book  dictated 
from  heaven. 

**  Listen  to  my  words  and  fix  them  in  your  minds. 

**  Verily  all  Moslems  are  brothers.  Take  not  that 
which  belongs  to  thy  brother  ;  beware  of  injustic. 

"  O  Allah,  I  have  fulfilled  my  mission  !  " 

Thousands  of  voices  responded  as  one, 

"  Yea,  verily  thou  hast  fulfilled  it !  " 

The  prophet  added,  *'  O  Allah,  I  beseech  thee,  bear 
thou  witness  to  my  message  !  " 

As  the  sermon,  from  which  the  few  sentences 
above  are  taken  was  delivered,  a  Koreishite,  en- 
dowed with  a  resounding  voice,  repeated  each  sen- 
tence to  the  throngs,  thus  adding  to  the  deep  im- 
pressiveness  of  the  unusual  scene.     The  ceremony 


RIVALS  ARISE.  203 

finished,  the  prophet  sacrificed  the  sixty-three  cam- 
els he  had  provided,  and  Ali  who  had  returned  from 
a  mission  to  Yemen  just  in  time  to  take  part  in 
all  the  solemnities  of  the  occasion,  added  thirty- 
seven.  The  aged  Abu  Bekr,  as  he  reflected  upon 
the  events  of  the  years  since  he  was  with  the  prophet 
in  the  mountain  cave,  and  looked  forward  to  the 
coming  dissolution  of  the  earthly  bond  that  held 
him  to  Mohammed,  shed  sympathetic  tears. 

The  flesh  of  the  sacrificed  beasts  was  distributed 
and  the  prophet  took  up  his  journey  towards 
Medina. 

The  ascendancy  Mohammed  now  enjoyed  created 
rivals,  and  three  men  in  different  parts  of  Arabia 
arose  and  attempted  to  grasp  some  thing  of  the 
power  that  he  swayed,  imitating  his  assumed  in- 
spiration from  heaven,  and  endeavoring  to  unite  in 
their  persons  his  religious  and  civil  authority.  They 
heard  that  Mohammed  was  growing  weaker  physi- 
cally, and  they  knew  also  that  some  of  the  wander- 
ing Bedawins  who  had  given  allegiance  to  Islam  were 
becoming  discontented  with  its  irksome  restraints  and 
wearisome  rites.  They  deemed  the  moment  propi- 
tious for  the  undertakings  that  they  meditated. 

The  first  of  these,  Tuleya,  belonging  to  a  tribe 
ranging  the  deserts  of  Nejd,  and  allied  to  the  Kore- 
ishites,  was  promptly  overcome  by  Kalid  ;  the  sec- 
ond, nicknamed  Maslama  or  Muselima,  the  Little 
Moslem,  was,  as  we  shall  see,  not  so  easily  put 
down;  the  third,  Aswad,  was  a  person  of  some  au- 
thority in  Yemen,  and  succeeded  in  driving  out  the 
representatives  of  Mohammed ;  but  his  insurrection 


204  A    FAREWELL   PILGRLMAGE. 

seems  to  have  been  deemed  by  the  prophet  of  small 
importance,  and  it  did  not  long  endure.  He  was 
killed  a  few  days  before  Mohammed's  death.  These 
"  false  prophets,"  as  they  are  called,  serve  to  show 
that  though  the  authority  of  Mohammed  was  wide 
and  his  power  great,  his  iron  rule  was  galling  to 
many  of  his  disciples,  and  that  there  were  not  want- 
ing those  who  were  ready  to  rebel  if  opportunity 
should  but  present  itself. 

With  apparent  unconsciousness  of  these  facts,  the 
prophet  proposed  to  organize  another  expedition 
into  Roman  territory,  and  appointed  as  its  director 
Osama,  son  of  his  adopted  son  Zeyd,  who,  as  we  re- 
member, had  perished  in  the  same  region  at  the 
battle  of  Muta.  He  knew  that  his  restless  subjects 
required  activity  of  this  sort,  and  he  desired  also  that 
his  mission  should  be  recognized  among  the  tribes 
to  the  northward.  The  preparations  were,  however, 
interrupted  by  an  illness. 

One  night  the  prophet  found  himself  in  so  much 
pain  that  he  could  not  sleep  ;  and  calling  an  atten- 
dant he  passed  through  the  quiet  city  streets  to  the 
cemetery  without  the  walls,  where  he  saluted  the  in- 
habitants of  the  tombs,  called  upon  them  to  rest  in 
peace,  waiting  for  their  brethren,  and  then  fell  to 
praying  for  the  souls  of  the  faithful  buried  around 
him.  When  he  returned  to  Ayesha's  apartment  he 
was  in  a  high  fever,  and  he  said  to  Abu  Bekr  that  it 
was  the  travail  of  inspiration  which  brought  it  on. 

Doubtless  the  ecstasies  into  which  he  had  for  so 
many  years  been  accustomed  to  fall  when  overcome 
by  those  reflections  which  issued  in  *' revelations," 


THE  END  APPROACHES.  20$ 

*vere  exceedingly  weakening  ;  but  it  seems  that  they 
would  have  shown  some  thing  of  their  effect  before 
he  had  arrived  at  the  age  of  more  than  three  score 
years.  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  epileptic  fits  or 
hysterical  attacks  to  which  he  is  said  by  some  to 
have  been  subject,  for  they  did  not  interfere  with 
the  sound  development  of  his  bodily  system,  nor 
keep  him  from  the  exposures  and  fatigue  of  active 
campaigns. 

Mohammed  now  knew  that  the  end  of  his  earthly 
pilgrimage  was  rapidly  approaching,  and  he  said : 
''  Verily  Allah  hath  offered  unto  one  of  his  servants 
the  choice  between  this  life  and  the  one  that  is  near 
unto  him,  and  he  hath  chosen  that  which  is  nigh 
unto  Allah."  It  is  said  that  he  often  repeated  the 
one  hundred  and  tenth  sura,  which  is  interpreted  to 
mean  that  when  many  should  press  to  Islam,  then 
the  career  of  the  prophet  should  be  near  at  end : 

"  When  the  help  of  Allah  comes,  and  victory, 
And  thou  shalt  see  men  entering  Islam  by  troops, 
Then  sing  thou  the  praises  of  Allah,  and  ask  forgiveness 
of  him,  for  verily,  he  is  merciful." 

For  a  while  Mohammed,  though  feeble,  continued 
to  lead  the  public  devotions  in  the  mosque,  but  at 
last  he  found  himself  too  much  weakened  to  perform 
the  duty,  and  even  the  doors  of  the  building  were 
closed  to  keep  the  hum  of  busy  life  away  from  his 
apartment.  He  then  appointed  Abu  Bekr  to  take 
his  place  in  the  mosque,  perhaps  intimating  in  this 
way  that  he  desired  his  priestly  and  political  au- 
thority to  fall  upon  his  tried  friend  when  he  should 
himself  be  no  more. 


2o6  A   FAREWELL  PILGRIMAGE. 

His  pains  increased,  and  in  his  agony  he  cried 
out :  *'  By  him  in  whose  hands  my  Hfe  is,  there  is 
not  upon  earth  a  beHever  afflicted  with  calamity  or 
disease,  but  Allah  by  it  causeth  his  sins  to  fall  from 
him,  yea,  even  as  leaves  shed  from  the  trees  in 
autumn  !  "  At  another  time  he  called  for  pen  and 
paper,  saying  that  he  would  write  a  book  that  would 
preserve  his  followers  from  error.  There  seems  to 
be  an  indication  here  that  the  prophet  wished  to 
revise  the  Koran  to  fit  it  to  be  a  guide  for  his  people 
when  their  numbers  should  be  increased  in  different 
portions  of  the  world.  In  a  former  illness  he  had 
prayed  for  recovery,  but  now  he  cried,  O  my  soul, 
why  seekest  thou  refuge  other  than  Allah  only  ?  " 

Once  he  rallied  and  suddenly  appeared  in  the 
mosque  when  the  assembly  was  in  the  act  of  prayer, 
and  as  he  entered  he  said  in  a  whisper  to  an  atten- 
dant, "  Verily  Allah  hath  granted  me  cooling  of  the 
eyes  in  prayer  !  "  He  then  moved  to  the  side  of 
Abu  Bekr  and  remained  there  on  the  ground  until 
thie  services  were  finished.  Then  he  sat  a  little 
while  in  the  courtyard  and  spoke  in  faint  tones  to 
the  throng,  but  the  exertion  weakened  him,  and  he 
sought  his  couch  in  the  apartment  of  Ayesha. 

There  he  sighed,  "  O  Allah,  succour  me  in  the 
agonies  of  death  !  "  "  Gabriel,  come  thou  close  to 
thy  servant !  '*  Ayesha  prayed  the  whiles,  and  the 
prophet  in  his  last  throes  muttered,  *'  O  Allah,  grant 
thy  servant  pardon,  and  join  him  to  the  companion- 
ship on  high  .  .  .  Eternity  in  paradise  .  .  . 
Pardon  .  .  .  Yes  .  .  .  The  companionship 
of  the  blessed   on  high  !  "     .     .     .     The  head  was 


THE  DEATH  OF  THE  PROPHET, 


207 


heavy  on  Ayesha's  bosom.  Peace  had  come  to  him 
after  his  stress  and  storm.  It  was  Monday,  June  8, 
632  A,D.,  and  in  the  tenth  year  after  the  Hejra. 

Thus  died  the  only  man  mentioned  by  history, 
who  was  at  once  legislator  and  poet,  the  founder  of 
a  religion  and  of  an  empire. 


^\/^ 

^t^^^m^W^^'f^.ii 

^^^^^mi 

XXIII. 

THE    FIRST   SUCCESSOR. 

Can  we  put  ourselves  in  the  place  occupied  by 
these  volatile  Arabs  as  they  heard  that  the  prophet 
was  dead  ?  Can  we  tell  what  they  thought  of  him 
and  his  mission  in  their  inmost  hearts  ?  For  ten 
years  he  had  gone  in  and  out  before  the  people  of 
Medina,  and  they  knew  the  secrets  of  his  unassum- 
ing life  ;  his  simple  dress,  his  spare  table,  his  lack  of 
parade,  his  charity,  his  sobriety,  his  abstemiousness, 
his  fasts,  his  prayers,  his  noble  counsel  and  tender- 
ness, his  goodfellowship.  They  did  not  forget  how 
he  gave  gifts  to  his  old  nurse,  Halima,  when  she 
visited  him  in  his  manhood,  nor  his  tears  at  the 
grave  of  gentle  Amina,  when  he  passed  by  it  on  the 
way  from  Mecca ;  they  remembered  with  loving 
sympathy  his  tender  outburst  of  sorrow  when  little 
Ibrahim,  his  hope  and  his  treasure,  was  torn  from 
his  arms. 

Could  they  forget  his  public  teachings?  How  he 
counselled  children  to  cultivate  love,  honor,  and 
humility  towards  their  mothers,*  no  less  than  to- 
wards their  fathers  ;  how  he  declared  that  husband 
and  wife  had  equal  rights  to  love  and  affection  from 

*  He  said,  beautifully,  "  The  son  gains  Paradise  at  the  feet  of  the 
mother." 


^^^^gy^^^t^^^'"-^^^'  ■^v-^^^^'%^^^;^^^y^^ 


MOHAMMED, 


2IO  THE  FIRST  SUCCESSOR. 

the  Other  ;  how  he  raised  widows  to  an  estate  of 
honor  from  their  former  humiliation  ;  how  he  Hmited 
the  number  of  wives  that  a  man  might  take  ;  how  he 
raised  the  Arabs  as  a  nation  from  the  grade  of  idola- 
ters, and  pointed  them  to  Allah,  who  is  one,  and  will 
not  share  his  honor  with  another. 

Did  they  not  remember  his  dignified  form  as  it 
had  passed  up  and  down  their  streets,  or  appeared 
regularly  in  the  mosque  ?  His  sympathetic,  dark 
eye,  which  won  their  confidence  at  the  first  inter- 
view, his  graceful  smile  and  flowing  beard,  his 
piercing  glance,  his  stern  frown, — were  they  not  all 
impressed  upon  their  memory  ?  Did  any  ask  why 
he  allowed  himself  fifteen  wives,  when  he  limited 
them  to  four?  Did  they  taunt  his  memory  with  his 
cruelty  to  enemies?  Did  any  enquire  how  the 
"  faithful "  young  man  of  Mecca  had  changed  and 
become  the  "  crafty  "  ruler  of  Medina  ?  Not  one  ; 
they  were  ready  to  bury  his  faults  in  his  grave,  if, 
indeed,  they  acknowledged  that  he  had  any.  Even 
if  they  had  been  disposed  to  criticism,  no  Arabian 
could  accuse  Mohammed  of  craftiness  nor  cruelty, 
nor  could  he  think  of  him  in  any  other  light  than 
that  of  a  heaven-sent  reformer. 

His  honesty  was  patent,  despite  those  convenient 
"  revelations  "  that  had  in  so  suspicious  a  manner 
contributed  to  further  his  personal  desires.*  What- 
ever faults  we  may  detect  in  him  to-day,  and  we 
may  properly  be   more   critical  than    his    followers 

*  "  The  old  notion  that  Mohammed  was  a  mere  impostor  appears 
so  difficult  of  belief  that  no  one  of  any  recognized  skill  in  historical 
enquiry  now  upholds  it." — W,  W.  Ireland,  "  The  Blot  on  the  Brain," 
page  23. 


TRA I TS  OF  I  SLA  M,  211 

were  able  to  be,  are  faults  of  the  Arabian  character  and 
of  the  seventh  century  ;  and  that  is  not  saying  that 
Mohammed  was  a  perfect  man.  He  had  the  incon- 
sistencies of  humanity  ;  he  was  led  into  weaknesses 
by  the  very  strength  of  his  position,  a  position  that 
he  had  largely  made  for  himself.  He  had  some 
light  from  perverted  Judaism,  a  little  also  from  a 
less  perfect  phase  of  Christianity ;  and  of  these,  in 
his  ignorance,  he  took  advantage  to  frame  a  moral 
and  social  code  that  he  trusted,  and  trusted  to  the 
last,  would  be  used  by  Allah  for  the  regeneration  of 
the  whole  world.  It  was  marred  by  polygamy  ;  it 
was  blotted  by  slavery  ;  but  in  both  of  these  re- 
spects, it  was  an  improvement  upon  what  had  pre- 
ceded it.  It  was  bloody,  and  was  made  horrid  by 
hate,  but  the  time  did  not  come  for  ages  after  his 
day  when  all  Christians  even  understood  the  gentle 
law  of  love  that  their  Leader  laid  down  for  their 
guidance,  and  for  centuries  they  acted  upon  the  law 
which  permitted  direst  hate  to  exist  towards  all 
beyond  the  pale  of  their  own  faith. 

Can  we  find  fault  with  Mohammed  for  the  presen- 
tation of  Allah,  the  merciful  and  compassionate,  the 
One  God  as  opposed  to  the  hundreds  of  divinities  in 
the  Arabian  pantheon?  Was  it  not  an  original  idea 
in  the  eyes  of  his  countrymen?  Was  it  not  to  them 
a  veritable  revelation  ?  Did  it  not  show  the  great- 
ness of  Mohammed's  mind  that  from  the  sources  at  his 
command  he  was  able  to  evolve  an  idea  so  sublime, 
and  so  strange  in  view  of  all  his  early  teachings  ? 
The  intensity  with  which  Mohammed  appreciated 
the  evils  of  idolatry  led  him  to  overlook  his  oppor- 


212  THE  FIRST  SUCCESSOR. 

tunity  to  overturn  polygamy  and  to  elevate  woman  ; 
and  thus  to  make  Islam  a  great  power  for  good  in 
after  time.  Was  not  his  sincerity  proved,  too,  by  the 
firmness  with  which,  to  his  dying  moment,  he  clung 
to  the  one  grand  thought  of  all  his  life?  If  he  had 
been  more  than  man,  he  would  have  seen  the  error 
of  fixing  a  religion  so  inelastic,  so  unprogressive,  and 
laws  so  rigid  and  unadapted  for  the  use  of  future 
ages  upon  a  people  whom  he  thought  destined  to 
bring  all  nations  under  their  sway  and  to  hold  them 
for  all  time.* 

The  reforms  that  he  wrought  were  relative,  not 
absolute  ;  they  raised  the  standard  in  Mecca  and  in 
all  Arabia,  but  they  were  lower,  if  he  had  only 
known  it,  than  the  perfect  law  of  purity  and  love 
which  a  greater  than  he  had  laid  down.  It  was  his 
misfortune  not  to  have  seen  Christianity  in  its  full 
brightness,  and  it  has  been  the  misfortune  of  his  fol- 
lowers ever  since.-j-  To  him  Issawas  not  the  perfect 
man  that  Jesus  was,  but  though  he  was  seen  by  him 
through  the  veil  of   the  degenerate,  the  vulgarized 

*  Dr.  August  Weil  says  of  the  Koran  :  "  Like  the  Books  of  Moses, 
it  contains  ordinances  that  are  not  useful  or  even  applicable  to  all 
lands  and  all  mankind,  nor  yet  for  all  time.  .  .  .  As  a  reformer, 
which  Mohammed  originally  was  and  desired  to  be,  he  is  entitled  to 
our  unqualified  recognition  and  admiration.  .  .  .  He  merits  the 
name  of  prophet." 

\  "  All  this  was  extremely  natural  on  the  part  of  one  in  Mahomet's 
position  ;  but  he  was  clearly  blameworthy  in  not  more  fully  inform- 
ing himself  on  such  all-important  questions.  Consequently  his  sys- 
tem became  one  of  mere  retrogression  and  bitter  antagonism  to  the 
truth."  "  A  little  more  enquiry,  and  Mahomet  might  have  proved  a 
Christian  missionary." — E.  A.  Freeman,  "The  History  and  Con- 
quests of  the  Saracens,"  pp.  53-72, 


MOHAMMED'S  IDEA    OF  GOD.  213 

tritheistic  Christianity  of  Arabia,  he  appeared  always 
to  his  mind  as  the  true  Spirit  and  Word  of  Allah,  as 
one  to  be  respected  and  honored  as  an  apostle, 
though  not  allowed  to  be  the  Son  of  God.  No 
more  could  have  been  expected  of  Mohammed  short 
of  the  miraculous. 

Maurice  has  shown  that  the  Arabian  prophet 
adopted  the  Old-Testament  idea  of  God — of  a  being, 
living,  acting,  speaking,  ruling;  as  one  who  makes 
his  will  known  to  men  by  books  and  apostles  ;  as 
one  whom  man  could  not  find  out,  who  must  reveal 
himself  ;  as  one  to  whom  his  people  may  offer  their 
petitions,  with  faith  that  he  will  hear;  and  to  this 
divinity  he  bound  a  scattered  nation,  who  for  cen- 
turies had  been  without  a  temple  or  a  capital,  scorned 
and  hated  by  all  people,  and  bound  them  so  firmly 
that  they  were  ready  to  sacrifice  their  goods,  yea, 
their  very  lives  in  its  support,  because  they  believed 
with  a  mighty  conviction  that  they  were  verily  called 
of  God  to  a  work,  that  they  were  his  witnesses  and 
responsible  to  him  only.* 

Mohammed  depended  not  at  all  upon  ''  miracles," 
as  many  would-be  prophets  have  ;  he  declared  that 
his  only  miracle  was  the  Koran,  and  this  he  truly 
believed  to  be  some  thing  not  evolved  from  himself, 
for  when  its  suras  were  brought  to  his  mind  he  was 
so  deeply  wrought  up  by  consideration  of  the  par- 
ticular themes  they  respectively  treated  that  he  verily 
believed  that  they  were  not  of  him,  but  came  from 
on  high. 

*  See  "  The  Religions  of  the  World,"  by  Frederick  Denison 
Maurice^  chapter  I.,  part  i,  and  chapter  I.,  part  2. 


214  THE  FlkST  SUCCESSOR. 

Many  another  thinker,  without  for  a  moment 
claiming  that  he  has  been  the  subject  of  supernatural 
communications,  has  nevertheless  been  entirely  un- 
able at  times  to  explain  the  genesis  of  his  own  works, 
or  perhaps  even  to  feel  that  they  proceeded  from  his 
own  mind  ;  they  had  been  produced  after  mental 
throes,  often  with  physical  pains,  and  when  once 
brought  to  the  light  they  seemed  to  their  composer 
like  something  entirely  outside  of  his  being;  they 
were  as  fresh  and  interesting  to  him  as  to  any  one 
else.  Such,  in  a  transcendent  degree,  was  the  case 
with  Mohammed ;  he  seems  to  have  been  unaware 
of  the  reaction  of  his  mind  upon  itself  in  his  early 
anxiety  for  reformation,  and  after  the  idea  had  be- 
come fixed  in  his  belief  that  he  was  in  communica- 
tion with  higher  powers,  he  never  was  able  to  release 
himself  from  the  agreeable  and  flattering  hallucina- 
tion. 

It  was  a  true  man  who  talked  to  Ayesha  during 
the  "  night  Al  Kadar,"  which  is  "  better  than  a 
thousand  months,"  and  expressed  his  reliance  for 
salvation  on  the  mercy  of  Allah.* 

**  O  prophet,  do  none  enter  paradise  except  by  the 
mercy  of  Allah  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  No,  no,  none  enter  but  by  the  favor  of  Allah." 

*'  But  you,  O  prophet,  will  you  not  enter  paradise 
except  by  the  compassion  of  Allah  ?  " 

*  "  Surely  nothing  but  a  consciousness  of  real  righteous  intentions 
could  have  carried  Mahomet  so  steadily  and  consistently,  without 
ever  flinching  or  vi^avering,  without  ever  betraying  himself  to  his 
most  intimate  companions,  from  his  first  revelation  to  Khadijah  to 
his  last  agony  in  the  arms  of  Ayesha." — E.  A.  Freeman,  "  The  His- 
tory and  Conquests  of  the  Saracens,"  p.  57. 


SADNESS  IN-  MEDINA.  21$ 

The  prophet  placed  his  hand  upon  his  head  and 
said  solemnly  thrice:  "  I  shall  not  enter  except  Allah 
cover  me  with  his  mercy  !  " 

On  another  occasion  he  said :  "  I  am  no  more  than 
a  man ;  when  I  order  you  any  thing  respecting  re- 
ligion, receive  it ;  and  when  I  order  you  about  the 
business  of  this  life,  then  I  am  nothing  more  than  a 
man." 

There  was  sadness  in  Medina  when  the  news  came 
to  the  people  that  the  prophet  was  no  more.  "  How 
can  we  let  him  die, — he  who  told  us  how  to  act  and 
warned  us  of  judgment  to  come  ?  "  "  No,  no,  he  is 
not  dead,"  cried  strong  Omar,  '*  he  has  but  gone  like 
Musa  (Moses)  to  talk  to  Allah  ;  we  shall  see  him 
among  us  again."  Abu  Bekr  hastened  to  the  house 
of  mourning,  placed  his  hand  upon  the  cold  cheeks 
and  the  quiet  heart,  and  then  appeared  before  the 
throng,  saying  with  Oriental  vehemence: 

"  O  Moslems,  if  ye  would  adore  Mohammed,  know 
that  he  is  dead  ;  if  ye  would  adore  Allah,  know  that 
he  lives,  and  never  dies!  Do  ye  forget  already  the 
verse  of  the  Koran,  that  he  gave  you  aforetime  ? 
'  Mohammed  is  but  a  man  with  a  mission  ;  apostles 
have  passed  away  in  other  days  ;  what  if  he  die  or  is 
killed,  will  ye  then  turn  upon  your  heels  ? '  (sura  iii.). 
Do  ye  forget  that  other  word,  '  Verily,  O  Mohammed, 
thou  shalt  die,  and  they  shall  die  '  ?  "  (sura  xxxix.). 
The  words  of  the  old  man  calmed  the  multitude  and 
showed  Omar  too  that  he  was  wrong. 

Before  the  body  could  be  buried,  it  was  necessary 
to  decide  upon  the  successor  (kalif)  who  should 
wield  the  power  that  death   had   wrested   from  the 


2l6  THE  FIRST  SUCCESSOR. 

prophet,  and  there  were  several  claimants,  but  Abu 
Bekr  had,  they  thought,  been  too  plainly  pointed 
out  as  the  choice  of  Mohammed  to  allow  him  to  be 
overlooked,  and  the  authority  was  laid  upon  him 
after  a  slight  discussion.  Omar  cried  out  to  him, 
"  Hold  forth  thy  hand  !  "  and  seizing  it,  declared 
in  a  loud  voice  that  he  recognized  him  as  chief,  and 
swore  to  him  allegiance. 

The  next  morning  Abu  Bekr  appeared  as  usual  in 
the  mosque,  and  Omar  said  to  the  people:  '^  The 
apostle  of  Allah  has  been  taken  from  us,  but  the 
Koran  remains  ;  Allah  gave  it  as  a  guide  to  the 
prophet,  it  will  continue  to  keep  us  in  the  right  way ! 
To-day  Allah  has  placed  at  our  head  the  best  man 
among  us,  the  friend  of  the  prophet,  his  companion 
in  the  cave.  Come,  then,  take  the  hand  of  Abu 
Bekr,  and  solemnly  swear  obedience  and  allegiance 
to  him  !  " 

The  multitude  hastened  to  grasp  the  hand  of  the 
honored  leader,  and  then  Abu  Bekr  spoke  : 

"  Behold  me  charged  with  the  cares  of  governor. 
I  am  not  the  best  among  you  ;  I  need  all  your  advice 
and  all  your  help  ;  if  I  do  well,  support  me ;  if  I 
mistake,  counsel  me.  To  tell  truth  to  a  person 
commissioned  to  rule  is  faithful  allegiance  ;  to  con- 
ceal it  is  treason.  In  my  sight  the  powerful  and  the 
weak  are  alike  ;  to  both  I  wish  to  render  justice.  As 
I  obey  Allah  and  his  prophet,  obey  me  :  if  I  cast 
behind  me  the  laws  of  Allah  and  the  prophet,  I  have 
no  more  right  to  your  obedience." 

The  successor,  or  kalif  as  he  was  called,  thus 
peacefully  inaugurated,  the  funeral  ceremonies  were 


ISLAM'S  PVtORE  policy.  ^if 

the  next  care.  They  occupied  parts  of  Tuesday  and 
Wednesday,  after  which  the  body,  honored  in  death, 
was  placed  lovingly  in  a  tomb  prepared  in  the  house 
of  Ayesha,  the  favorite  wife.  She  continued  to 
occupy  a  portion  of  the  apartment  afterwards,  a 
division  being  made  between  the  dwelling  of  the 
living  and  the  dead,  and  there  her  father,  Abu  Bekr, 
was  also  buried  when  he  died. 

The  first  use  that  the  kalif  made  of  his  new 
authority  was  prophetic,  for  it  marked  out  the  policy 
of  Islam  for  the  future.  He  sent  Osama  on  his  ex- 
pedition of  vengeance  and  conquest,  and  after  twenty 
days  he  returned  in  triumph,  having  avenged  his 
father's  death  at  Muta  by  fire  and  blood.  He  had 
burned  villages  and  crops,  had  slain  all  who  ventured 
to  oppose  his  progress,  and  had  enslaved  those  who 
had  remained  at  home,  leaving  behind  him  a  whirl- 
wind of  fire  and  smoke.  He  was  met  by  Abu  Bekr 
and  the  citizens  outside  the  town  with  loud  acclama- 
tions, and  together  they  marched  to  the  mosque,  the 
white  banner  of  the  prophet  flying  over  them,  and 
there  they  offered  thanksgiving  for  the  bloody 
success \ 


XXIV. 

CAN   ISLAM    BE   SHAKEN   OFF? 

The  new  ruler,  the  Successor  of  the  Prophet  of 
Allah,  as  he  was  humbly  called,  was  a  man  of  about 
the  same  age  as  Mohammed.  His  principal  recom- 
mendation for  the  office  to  which  he  had  so  sud- 
denly been  raised,  was  found  in  the  fact  that  he  had 
been  with  the  founder  of  Islam  in  the  cave,  for  which 
reason  he  had  received  the  title,  *'  the  Other  of  the 
Two,"  a  sobriquet  of  which  he  was  exceedingly 
proud.  Mohammed  called  him  Al-Siddik,  on  ac- 
count of  his  truthfulness,  and  that  title  also  adhered 
to  him  through  life,  the  people  as  well  as  their 
prophet  always  placing  the  utmost  confidence  in  his 
integrity. 

The  form  of  Abu  Bekr  was  spare,  and  he  stooped  ; 
his  face  was  thin,  and  his  countenance  gave  the  im- 
pression of  a  man  of  resolution  and  wisdom  ;  but  his 
expression  was  mild,  truly  representing  his  dispo- 
sition, though  on  account  of  the  firmness  of  his  faith 
in  the  prophet  he  had  become  one  of  his  most  reso- 
lute and  unyielding  disciples.  His  handsome  features 
were  smooth  and  fair,  and  his  thin  beard  and  hair, 
though  naturally  white,  were,  in  accordance  with  an 
Oriental  custom,  dyed  red. 


CANDIDATES  FOR  KALIF.  2ig 

Though  there  were  reasons  for  asserting  that  Abu 
Bekr  had  been  indicated  by  Mohammed  as  his  suc- 
cessor, there  were  not  lacking  grounds  for  thinking 
that  Ali  also  had  a  good  claim  upon  the  office.  Not 
only  was  he  son-in-law  of  the  prophet,  but  it  will  be 
remembered  that  he  was,  according  to  the  tradition- 
ary story,  the  first  one  to  rush  to  his  support  when 
the  mission  was  announced,  and  had  at  that  most 
critical  moment  received  the  title  '^kalif,"  joined 
with  the  promise  that  his  commands  should  be 
obeyed.* 

There  was  another  strong  claimant,  the  redoubt- 
able Omar,  whose  conversion  in  the  early  days  of  the 
prophet's  mission,  had  appeared  almost  miraculous. 
Since  that  moment  he  had  been  the  right  arm  of 
Islam,  and  to  his  martial  ability  most  of  its  victories 
in  war  were  due.  He  showed  a  generosity  that 
could  not  be  forgotten  in  giving  up  his  claims  with 
so  much  cordiality  in  favor  of  Abu  Bekr. 

Othman  was  another  who  might  well  have  ex- 
pected recognition,  for  he  had  married  two  of  Mo- 
hammed's daughters,  and  had  received  from  him  one 
of  those  compliments  that  he  was  perhaps  too  much 
inclined  to  scatter  promiscuously  among  his  follow- 
ers :  '*  Each  thing  has  its  mate,  and  each  man  his 
associate;  my  companion  in  paradise  is  Othman." 
The  prophet  showed  special  consideration  for  this 
man  at  the  time  of  the  Oath  under  the  Tree,  for 
Othman  was  not  present,  but  Mohammed  took  the 
oath  for  him,  striking  one  of  his  own  palms  upon  the 
other  in  token  of  his  allegiance. 

*  See  page  83. 


220  CAN  ISLAM  BE   SHAlCEISr  OFF? 

Of  all  these,  AH  seems  to  have  had  the  strongest 
right  to  the  place  (if  *'  right  "  there  was),  and  so  great 
was  the  feeling  of  his  partisans  on  his  rejection  that 
a  body  known  by  his  name  still  exists,  the  Islamites 
of  Persia  to-day  adhering  to  the  interpretation  of  the 
Koran  in  accordance  with  his  views,  and  believing 
that  Abu  Bekr  was  an  usurper.  The  two  great  sects 
arose  in  consequence  of  this  rejection  of  AH  ;  they 
are  those  of  Persia,  just  referred  to,  known  as  the 
Alyites,  Fatimites,  or  Shias,  the  latter  title  signify- 
ing secretaries :  and  the  Sonnites  or  TraditionistSj 
the  orthodox  adherents  to  the  claims  of  Abu  Bekr 
and  the  three  kalifs  after  him  who  held  the  office 
before  AH.  Thus  it  seemed  that  Islam  was  ready  to 
break  up  into  sects  as  soon  as  the  bond  that  held  the 
prophet  and  his  followers  together  was  broken. 

If  there  was  discontent  with  the  restrictions  of  the 
new  religion  before  the  prophet's  death,  when  he  was 
merely  beginning  to  show  the  infirmities  of  age,  they 
were  increased  many  fold  when  it  was  known 
throughout  Arabia  that  he  was  actually  dead. 
Many  were  ready  to  say,  *'  If  he  had  really  been  a 
prophet  of  Allah,  he  would  not  have  died  ;  and  there 
were  few  like  the  chief  of  Taif  to  rise  up  and  say  : 
''  Children,  ye  were  the  latest  converts  to  Islam,  will 
ye  be  the  first  to  renounce  it?"  There  were  many 
ready  to  exclaim :  "  We  will  continue  to  pray,  but 
we  will  no  longer  bring  tribute  to  Medina."  All 
who  were  bound  by  interest  only  loosened  their  al- 
legiance;  all  who  had  been  converted  only  by  the 
sword  looked  to  that  weapon  for  help  in  breaking 
their  bonds ;  all  who  were  uneasy  under  the  rites  and 


NO    COMPROMISE,  221 

ceremonies  of  the  faith  thought  that  the  moment  for 
relief  had  arrived.  From  the  Persian  Gulf  to  the  Red 
Sea  there  was  a  general  cry :  "  Can  Islam  be  shaken 
off?"  and  the  same  question  was  reechoed  from  the 
Indian  Ocean  to  the  sands  of  the  Syrian  desert. 

The  first  duty  of  Abu  Bekr — the  mild,  but  the 
forcible  also — was  to  quiet  these  premonitory  ebul- 
litions of  rebellion  before  opposition  to  Islam  should 
gain  such  strength  as  to  be  irresistible.  He  had 
cried  havoc  and  let  slip  the  dogs  of  war  with  effect 
when  he  commissioned  Osama  to  establish  the  quiet 
of  death  upon  the  northern  borders,  and  he  deter- 
mined to  use  equally  strong  means  in  settling  the 
troubles  that  now  threatened.  He  divided  the  en- 
tire territory  of  Arabia  into  districts,  and  eleven 
separate  expeditions  were  prepared,  commissioned 
to  summon  every  province  to  allegiance  or  destruc- 
tion, in  accordance  with  a  proclamation  that  was  now 
issued. 

The  spirit  that  was  to  control  the  future  move- 
ments is  shown  in  the  case  of  certain  of  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Nejd,  who  came  offering  to  keep  all  their 
tribes  quiet  if  they  might  be  permitted  to  pray  but 
not  pay  tribute.  A  solemn  convocation  discussed 
the  question  whether  this  compromise  should  not 
be  allowed  ;  whether  it  was  right,  indeed,  to  wage 
war  against  a  people  who  professed  the  unity  of 
Allah  and  said  the  prayers  prescribed  by  the 
prophet.  Abu  Bekr  settled  the  question  once  for 
all,  by  declaring  that  Islam  was  one  and  indivisible ; 
that  they  who  refused  a  part  of  the  demands  were 
apostates  with  whom  the  Koran  permitted  no  cove- 


222  CAN  ISLAM  BE   SHAKEN  OFF? 

nants  to  be  made,  and  that  it  made  no  difference  to 
him  how  numerous  they  might  be,  he  should  pro- 
ceed against  them  after  the  manner  of  Mohammed, 
who  had  never  counted  the  number  of  any  opposing 
forces.  Even  strong  Omar  was  surprised  at  the 
firmness  of  the  kahf.  He  had  at  first  been  will- 
ing to  acquiesce  in  the  compromise,  but  now  he 
exclaimed :  ''  Abu  Bekr  has  more  faith  alone  than 
all  we  together !  " 

To  whom  should  the  new  kalif  look  for  support 
in  the  performance  of  the  weighty  duties  of  his  po- 
sition ?  Doubtless,  one  would  think,  to  the  warriors 
upon  whom  the  prophet  had  relied ;  but,  no :  he 
kept  these  strong  men  at  home,  saying  that  he 
needed  them  for  counsel.  They  had  been  his  ri- 
vals in  candidacy  for  the  ofifice  he  held,  and  per- 
haps he  did  not  care  to  place  them  in  command  of 
great  armies  and  send  them  out  among  those  from 
whom  they  might  recruit  partisans  to  oust  him  from 
his  position.  Thus,  Omar  and  Othman  and  Ali  were 
kept  at  home,  while  the  greatest  reliance  was  placed 
upon  that  Kalid  who  had,  as  we  know,  before  the 
death  of  the  prophet,  won  the  sobriquet,  "The 
Sword  of  Allah  " ;  and  it  was  to  his  bravery,  dar- 
ing, and  dash,  to  his  cool  self-possession  in  the  face 
of  danger,  that  Islam  owed  its  remarkable  progress ; 
he  it  was  who  was  destined  to  bring  to  fealty  again 
the  detached  tribes  all  over  the  peninsula.  Kalid 
ranged  first  to  the  north  and  east  from  Medina,  car- 
rying devastation  and  terror  in  his  train,  and  proudly 
receiving  the  trembling  Bedawins  back  to  their  lost 
allegiance,    Complaint  was  carried  to  Abu  Bekr  that 


MANY  '^  J^E AVERS''   KILI^D.  22 ^ 

Kalid  was  over  cruel,  but  the  kalif  pardoned  him, 
alleging  that  his  orders  had  been  misunderstood,  and 
adding  when  Omar  demanded  his  deposition :  *'  I 
shall  not  sheathe  a  sword  that  Allah  has  drawn 
against  the  infidels !  "  In  the  course  of  his  cam- 
paigns Kalid  encountered  the  last  remaining 
"  false  "  prophet,  Muselima,  the  ''  Little  Moslem," 
who  ranged  the  province  of  Yemana,  eastward  from 
Mecca  (a.D.  633.). 

By  the  juggling  tricks  of  the  necromancer,  this  ad- 
venturer had  deceived  many  of  the  tribes  of  that 
region,  and  had,  by  pretended  miracles,  led  them 
to  embrace  his  wretched  imitation  of  Islam.  Kalid 
met  him  on  the  sandy  plain  of  Akraba,  and  the  hosts 
fought  with  the  utmost  desperation.  With  the 
"false"  prophet  it  was  the  fury  of  despair;  with 
the  host  of  Kalid  the  infatuation  of  fanaticism. 
A  Moslem  lance  brought  the  leader  of  the  Bedaw- 
ins  to  the  dust  and  Kalid  was  victorious.  The  con- 
flict was  so  remarkable  among  the  many  bloody  fields 
of  Arabia  that  the  place  took  the  name,  "■  The  Gar- 
den of  Death." 

The  inhabitants  of  Yemana  had  been  thus  con- 
quered at  great  cost,  for  large  numbers  of  the  Mos- 
lems fell  before  their  enemies  ;  and  among  those 
thus  cut  off  were  many  who  belonged  to  the  im- 
portant class  known  as  Readers, — men  who  pre- 
served the  Koran  in  their  memory.  So  many  of 
these  fell,  indeed,  that  it  gave  rise  to  a  well-grounded 
fear  lest  the  precious  book  itself  might  be  lost 
through  the  death  of  all  those  who  knew  it.  The  re- 
sult was  that  a  plan  was  formed  for  collecting  the 


224  CAN  ISLAM  BE  SHAKEN  OFF? 

text,  for  up  to  this  time  there  had  been  no  complete 
copy  of  it,  the  parts  that  the  *'  Companions  of  Mo- 
hammed," and  the  Readers  did  not  carry  in  tlieir 
memory  being  written  on  scattered  pieces  of  skins 
and  leaves  of  the  palm,  on  bones  and  leather.  The 
sacred  duty  of  collecting  these  fragments  was  de- 
volved upon  a  commission  composed  of  the  most 
capable  of  the  two  classes  just  mentioned,  and  an 
official  text  was  prepared.  It  was  deposited  for 
preservation  with  Hafsa,  one  of  the  widows  of  the 
prophet,  daughter  of  Omar.  The  collection  was 
made  in  a  style  that  we  should  call  haphazard  ;  and, 
as  we  read  it  now  in  the  translations  of  Sale,  Lane^ 
and  others,  seems  disconnected,  obscure,  and  even 
incoherent.  Of  arrangement  there  seems  to  be  none, 
unless  the  principle  of  placing  the  longest  suras  at 
the  beginning  be  considered  a  plan,  and  even  this  is 
not  systematically  adhered  to.* 

Kalid  continued  his  fierce  work  of  reconstruction 
until  the  interior  was  quiet  ;  others  carried  the  con- 
viction of  the  sword  throughout  the  region  along 
the  shores  of  the  Persian  Gulf,  through  Oman,  to 
Mahra,  and  afterwards  Yemen  and  Hadramawt  were 
brought  to  terms,  though  not  without  the  interposi- 

*  In  "  The  Speeches  of  Mohammed,"  by  Stanley  Lane-Poole,  one 
gets  a  good  idea  of  the  best  portions  of  the  Koran,  without  being 
obliged  to  search  through  many  tedious  suras.  In  the  translation  by 
the  Rev.  John  Medows  Rodwell,  the  suras  are  arranged  in  a  probable 
chronological  order,  and  the  difference  between  the  poetical  passages 
and  the  prose  chapters  plainly  indicated.  The  paraphrastic  version  of 
Sale  is  prefaced  by  a  valuable  introduction,  and  the  same  is  true  of 
the  very  scholarly  and  much  more  sinewy  translation  by  Professor 
Palmer, 


DEATH  OF  FATIMA.  22$ 

tion  of  several  "  miracles  "  which  greatly  helped  the 
faithful.  Thus  the  first  year  of  the  kalifate  passed  ; 
it  was  successful  in  bringing  back  the  apostacised,  but 
at  an  enormous  expense  of  blood  and  misery,  and  no 
one  could  tell  how  securely  the  irresponsible  wander- 
ers of  the  desert  were  now  united  to  the  old  faith,  un- 
accustomed as  they  ever  had  been  to  own  any  allegi- 
ance besides  that  acknowledged  to  their  own  tribes. 

During  the  year  (633)  Fatima  died,  and  Ali  then 
joined  the  other  "  Companions  of  the  Prophet,"  in 
attending  upon  the  kalif's  court,  setting  aside  the 
grievance  that  he  had  felt  at  being  passed  over  in 
the  election.  He  probably  found  that  it  was  better 
policy  to  fall  in  with  the  current,  at  least  to  appear- 
ance, than  to  fight  against  popular  feeling,  though 
he  never  forgot  that  he  had  been  the  only  person 
called  kalif  by  the  prophet. 

The  tribes  of  the  desert  and  the  Arabs  of  the 
towns  and  cities  began  to  feel,  before  the  first  year 
closed,  that  Islam  was  not  to  be  shaken  off. 


XXV. 

REACHING  OUT  TO  CHALDEA  AND  BABYLONIA. 

Despots  have  always  found  it  necessary  to  employ 
their  subjects  in  foreign  war  from  time  to  time,  in  or- 
der to  keep  them  from  feeling  the  galling  chains  by 
which  they  are  bound  or  to  hear  their  clanking ;  and 
it  came  to  pass  that  when  the  kalif  had  all  the  tribes 
of  Arabia  under  control,  he  saw  no  better  way  to  re 
strain  them  from  new  revolts  than  by  tempting  them 
to  make  inroads  upon  their  neighbors.  Nothing  could 
have  been  better  planned  by  a  ruler  acquainted  with 
the  volatile  nature  of  his  subjects.  There  was  no 
question  about  the  direction  that  the  fighting  should 
take  ;  there  was  no  outlook  to  the  southward,  nor  to 
any  quarter,  in  fact,  except  to  the  region  of  the 
Tigris  and  the  Euphrates,  and  to  the  land  of  Syria. 

Extending  from  the  head  of  the  Persian  Gulf  to 
the  Dead  Sea,  there  is  a  range  of  desert  wilderness 
which  is  shaded  off  to  the  north  until  it  is  lost  in  the 
fertile  plains  of  Southern  Asia  Minor.  Chaldea  and 
Babylonia  occupied  the  rich  region  south  of  the 
river  Tigris,  watered  by  the  Euphrates,  and  were 
known  as  Irak  of  the  Arabs,  as  distinguished  from 
Irak  of  the  Persians,  which  corresponded  somewhat 
nearly  to   the  modern  kingdom  of  Persia.     North- 


MESOPOTAMIA.  22/ 

west  of  Irak  was  Mesopotamia,  literally  the  land 
between  the  rivers,  called  also  the  Island,  the  rich 
land  from  which  Abraham  came.  Irak  of  Arabia 
was  at  this  time  under  the  jurisdiction  of  Persia,  and 
the  wandering  Arabs  who  roamed  over  the  broad 
desert  were  tributary  to  Persia  when  they  pitched 
their  tents  on  the  eastern  side,  and  to  Rome  when 
sojourning  on  the  side  towards  Syria  ;  though  they 
were  at  no  time  trusty  allies  or  subjects.  The  region 
of  Irak  contains  many  relics  of  a  former  civilization  ; 
there  are  the  mounds  that  mark  the  site  of  old 
Babylon.* 

"  'T  was  here,  beneath  this  dark  and  silent  mound, 
Where  ages  heap  their  nameless  wrecks  around. 
That  he,  the  last  great  king,  before  his  fall. 
Spread  his  famed  feast,  and  lit  his  gorgeous  hall." 

Farther  to  the  south  are  the  ruins  known  as  the 
Tower  of  Babel,  and  to  the  north,  at  the  time  of 
which  we  are  writing,  was  a  city  called  Medain  (the 
Twin  City)  because  it  occupied  the  site  of  two  more 
ancient  towns. 

**  Two  cities  moulder  here — and  can  it  be, 
Selucia  !  Ctesphon  !  we  gaze  on  ye  ? 
Boast  of  the  Greek  and  pride  of  Parthia's  kings. 
How  has  your  glory  flown  on  eagle  wings  !    .    .    . 
And  here  dwelt  Kosroes,  Persia's  tasteful  king, 
Lapped  in  each  joy  that  power  and  splendor  bring  ; 
Here  blazed  that  throne,  all  formed  of  pearls  and  gold. 
Like  sunset  cloud  round  Mythra's  chariot  rolled.    .    .    , 
The  soul  in  dreams  half  thought  her  in  the  skies, 
Mistaking  earth  for  star-bright  paradise  !  " 

Some   distance   south   of    Birs    Nimrud,  the    pile 

*For  an  account  of  these  localities,  see  "  The  Story  of  Chaldea,' 
chapter  one,  and  also  other  portions  of  that  volume. 


228  CHALDEA   AND  BABYLONIA, 

wrongly  supposed  to  mark  the  site  of  the  Tower 
of  Babel,  and  but  three  miles  from  the  site  of 
the  future  city  of  Kufa,  was  the  city  of  Hira,  the 
rich  capital  of  the  province  of  the  same  name.  This 
was  the  first  point  toward  which  Abu  Bekr  deter- 
mined to  send  his  armies.  He  directed  Kalid,  fresh 
from  the  victories  of  which  we  have  just  given  a 
brief  account,  to  advance  from  the  southward,  and 
ordered  another  army  to  approach  from  the  north, 
in  the  spring  of  the  year  633.  Kalid  was  the  first  to 
encounter  the  enemy,  and,  in  true  Arabian  fashion, 
he  sent  a  haughty  letter,  saying:  "Accept  the  faith 
of  Islam  and  thou  art  safe  ;  or  else  pay  tribute,  thou 
and  thy  people  ;  if  thou  refusest,  thou  shalt  have 
thyself  to  blame  ;  for  a  people  is  upon  thee  loving 
death  even  as  thou  lovest  life."  The  Persians 
thought  that  an  army  of  Arabs  could  be  easily  dis- 
persed, and  hastened  to  find  the  approaching  enemy. 
They  encamped  by  some  water-springs,  and  when 
Kalid  came  up  there  was  a  desperate  struggle  for 
possession  of  them.  It  is  said  that  the  Persians 
were  bound  together  by  ropes  or  chains,  determined 
to  perish  if  they  could  not  conquer.  Kalid  fell  upon 
them  with  his  usual  fury,  and  was  victorious  after 
great  carnage.  The  Battle  of  the  Chains  was  the 
name  given  to  the  conflict  (spring  of  633). 

Again  and  again  was  Kalid  victorious  over  the 
Persians  ;  and  as  he  advanced  he  sang  to  his  soldiers : 
"  Behold  the  riches  of  the  land  ;  its  paths  drop  fat- 
ness ;  food  is  as  the  stones  of  Arabia.  It  were 
worth  our  while  to  fight  here  for  worldly  advantage 
only,   but  in  a  holy  war, — how  much  more  noble ! 


THE  BUTCHERY  OF  KALID.  229 

These  fair  fields  and  paradise  !  "  Thus  he  went  on- 
ward to  Hira,  sacking  towns  on  his  way,  and  stop- 
ping once  to  send  some  of  the  rich  spoil  to  the 
kalif,  to  give  him  a  taste  of  what  was  to  come. 
After  reaching  Hira,  it  did  not  take  long  to  bring  it 
to  terms ;  its  commander  fled,  and  the  people  were 
very  glad  to  effect  a  treaty  binding  themselves  to 
pay  a  yearly  tribute  to  the  kalif. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  region  about  followed 
the  example  of  those  of  Hira,  and  thus  the  career 
of  conquest  was  successfully  begun.  Five  times 
a  day  the  muezzin  climbed  to  his  tower  in  this 
Persian  capital,  as  he  did  at  Mecca  and  Medina,  and 
called  the  faithful  to  prayer ;  and  besides,  Kalid 
celebrated  there  a  special  service  in  honor  of  his 
victory. 

We  can  well  spare  description  of  many  of  the 
battles  that  preceded  and  followed  the  capture  of 
Hira  ; — the  Battle  of  the  River  of  Blood  (May,  633), 
and  such  like,  do  not  offer  attractions  to  us,  and  we 
pass  them  over ;  sufficient  that  after  victories  and 
repulses  many,  Kalid  fought  a  notable  battle  at 
Firdah,  on  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Euphrates,  at  a 
point  where  Mesopotamia,  Irak,  and  Syria  may  be 
said  to  touch,  if,  indeed,  any  thing  so  exact  may  be 
predicated  of  territories  so  little  defined  (January  21, 
634).  It  was  a  long  and  frightful  struggle,  and  as 
many  as  one  hundred  thousand  are  reported,  in  the 
exaggerated  rhetoric  of  the  East,  to  have  bitten  the 
dust.  Kalid  was  restrained  from  attacking  Medain, 
though  he  much  wished  to  ;  and  as  the  sacred  month 
had  now  returned,  he  determined  to  refresh  his  soul 


230  CHALDEA   AND  BABYLONIA. 

by  a  pilgrimage  to  Mecca.  Unknown  and  almost 
alone,  he  found  his  difficult  way  over  the  interven- 
ing desert,  and  actually  returned  to  camp  before  his 
absence  had  been  noticed.  Thus  the  great  general 
mixed  his  bloodshedding  with  his  devotion. 

The  campaign  against  the  Romans  in  Syria  was 
entrusted  to  a  less  successful  general  ;  but  it  com- 
prised a  larger  number  of  veterans  of  the  wars  of  the 
prophet,  who  were  expected  to  be  invincible  now  as 
then  ;  but  it  was  not  so.  The  expedition  was  forced 
to  retreat  after  its  first  campaign,  and  Abu  Bekr 
sent  out  reinforcements,  which  he  personally  bade 
farewell  in  words  intended  to  stimulate  them  to  the 
utmost  exertions  for  the  cause,  but  even  this  did  not 
suffice,  and  Kalid  was  called  from  Irak  to  give  his 
powerful  aid. 

Heraclius,  on  his  part,  was  determined  to  repel  the 
invasion  at  whatever  cost  ;  he  bethought  him  of  hfe 
victories  over  the  Persians,  and  asked  himself  if  he 
could  allow  a  band  of  wandering  Arabs  to  put  a 
stop  to  his  progress  or  even  interrupt  his  career  for 
a  day. 

Abu  Bekr  massed  all  his  forces  on  the  banks  of 
the  Yermuk  River,*  east  of  the  sea  of  Galilee,  be- 

*  Laurence  Oliphant,  who  travelled  through  this  region,  gives  in 
"  The  Land  of  Gilead  "  (p.  94,  Am.  ed.  ;  p.  87,  Eng.  ed.)  a  sketch 
of  a  gorge  of  the  Yermuk,  which  shows  the  appearance  of  the  cele- 
brated battlefield.  He  speaks  of  sitting  on  a  broken  column  on  the 
verge  of  the  precipice  and  looking  down  at  the  winding  river  five 
hundred  feet  below,  while  "traces  of  a  departed  grandeur"  lay 
strewn  in  every  direction.  There  are  abundant  remains  of  an  ancient 
city  surrounded  by  walls  apparently  impregnable,  built  in  three 
tiers. 


THE  STRUGGLE  OF   WACUSA.  23 1 

tween  Damascus  and  Bostra,  and  there  Heraclius 
also  brought  his  great  army,  estimated  at  ninety 
thousand  men.  Week  after  week  these  vast  bodies 
faced  each  other,  engaging  in  petty  skirmishes  from 
time  to  time,  but  neither  accomphshing  any  thing 
decisive.  It  was  when  matters  were  in  this  condi- 
tion that  Kalid  was  peremptorily,  and  against  his 
will,  called  to  march  from  distant  Irak  to  the  Yer- 
muk  ;  but  he  was  undaunted.  In  a  few  days  he  fell 
unexpectedly  upon  Tadmor  (Palmyra)  and  took  it. 
Some  accounts  say  also  that  he  captured  Bostra, 
which  became  the  first  important  city  of  Syria  to 
yield  to  Moslem  power.'^ 

The  plain  of  Wacusa,  in  which  the  armies  lay,  is 
described  as  bounded  on  three  sides  by  sheer  preci- 
pices, with  a  ravine  on  the  remaining  side  which  left 
only  space  sufficient  for  the  passage  of  a  military 
road  by  which  it  was  commanded.  The  Romans 
occupied  the  plain,  and  the  Moslems  commanded 
the  entrance  to  it.  The  Roman  army  was  increased 
by  large  reinforcements  and  threatened  to  annihilate 
the  Saracens  ;  but  when,  in  September,  634,  the 
conflict  was  finally  precipitated,  the  soldiers  of 
Kalid  fought  with  their  usual  desperation,  and  the 
Romans  began  to  fall  back,  until,  finally,  vast  num- 
bers of  them  were  driven  into  the  deep  chasm,  and 
thousands  perished  in  this  humiliating  manner.  On 
the  morrow,  Kalid  took  possession  of  the  tent  of 
the  Roman  commander,  the  great  booty  was  divided, 

*  Ockley  describes  the  siege  of  Bostra  with  romantic  detail,  and  the 
accurate  Caussin  de  Perceval  (iii.,  435)  treats  it  as  a  fact  ;  but  Sir 
Wm.  Muir  says  that  he  finds  no  foundation  for  the  narrative. 


232  CHALDEA    AND   BABYLONIA. 

and  the  thousands  of  dead  Moslems  were  buried  on 
the  field.  Syria  was  conquered  ;  but  the  news  ar- 
rived at  almost  the  same  time  that  Abu  Bekr  was 
no  more,  and  the  kalif's  death  was  followed  by  an 
order  that  Kalid  should  deliver  up  his  command. 

While  these  stirring  events  were  happening,  the 
aged  Abu  Bekr  had  been  truly  approaching  his  end. 
During  the  summer  he  had  failed  considerably  under 
the  weight  of  anxiety  caused  by  the  difficult  opera- 
tions in  the  field  that  he  was  obliged  to  oversee, 
though  he  remained  strong  enough  to  the  very  close 
of  his  life  to  attend  to  his  official  duties.  He  de- 
volved upon  Omar  the  duties  of  public  prayer,  as 
Mohammed  had  laid  them  upon  him,  and  finally  he 
issued  a  decree  appointing  him  kalif  in  his  stead, 
giving  him  upon  his  dying  bed  a  caution  to  temper 
his  natural  severity  with  moderation.  The  first  act 
of  the  new  kalif  was  to  send  to  Kalid  the  despatch 
depriving  him  of  his  command,  an  act  that  promised 
little  for  the  magnanimity  of  the  coming  reign,  since 
it  was  the  result  of  a  long-treasured  desire,  formed 
at  the  time  when  Abu  Bekr  had  refused  to  depose 
Kalid  for  alleged  cruelty. 


XXV!. 

PALESTINE    AND    MESOPOTAMIA   CONQUERED. 

The  seeds  planted  by  the  prophet  were  now 
springing  up  and  bearing  fruit  ;  and  the  fruit  was 
not  that  to  be  expected  from  Hves  dominated  by 
fasting,  prayer,  and  dependence  upon  Allah.  The 
purest  teachings  of  the  Koran  were  generally 
ignored  ;  and  it  was  the  license  that  it  gave  which 
seemed  to  have  the  greatest  influence  upon  the 
faithful.  When,  for  example,  the  prophet  wrote  the 
restrictions  of  marriage  and  concubinage,  he  had  in 
mind  the  simple  condition  of  affairs  around  him  at 
the  time ;  he  did  not  look  forward  to  the  days 
when  the  Moslems  should  go  forth  as  conquering 
hosts. ^ 

Great  changer,  were  now  coming  over  his  people ; 
they  were  sheading  the  blood  of  their  fellow  crea- 
tures in   torrents.      At  the   Battle  of  the   River  of 

*  "  Mahomet,  in  tie  act  of  restricting,  necessarily  sanctioned  this 
enormous  e\'u.  Hij  limit  was  then  and  there  a  prodigious  moral 
reform,  br.c  it  mu£  .  always  stand  in  the  way  of  any  more  complete 
rerorm,  .  .  .  The  difference  between  one  wife  and  two  is  every 
thing.  .  .  .  His  followers  have  found  it  much  easier  to  remem- 
ber that  he  allowed  four  wives  than  that  he  allowed  only  four." — E. 
A.  Freeman,  "The  History  and  Conquests  of  the  Saracens," 
page  69. 


234  PALESTINE   AND   MESOPOTAMIA. 

Blood  (a.d.  633)  seventy  thousand  men  of  Irak 
were  butchered,  if  the  accounts  are  to  be  believed,  in 
order  that  the  Arab  might  pitch  his  tents  at  will 
throughout  the  rich  valleys  of  the  Eastern  rivers; 
and  when  the  Romans  were  pushed  by  scores  of 
thousands  into  the  gulf  at  Wacusa,  it  was  that  the 
Moslems  might  riot  in  luxury,  add  to  their  harems, 
and  enrich  themselves  with  spoils.  Each  soldier 
received  permission  to  take  as  slaves  all  the  women 
of  the  conquered  territories  that  he  wished,  and 
thus  the  basest  passions  were  encouraged  in  a 
manner  that  the  prophet  had  never  imagined  pos- 
sible. 

When  Omar  took  up  the  reins  of  government, 
he  declared  with  an  oath  that  he  would  guide  the 
Moslems  in  the  way  in  which  they  ought  to  go,  and 
no  one  who  was  acquainted  with  his  character 
doubted  that  he  would  guide  them  with  a  strong 
hand.  His  first  act  has  already  been  mentioned  ; 
his  next  was  to  prepare  more  soldiers  to  go  to  Irak; 
and  these  did  not  volunteer  with  much  alacrity,  for 
the  Persians  were  now  feared  more  than  they  had 
been  when  unknown.  Meantime  the  Moslems  were 
obliged  to  retire  from  Hira,  and  encountering  the 
Persians  at  a  place  not  far  from  Babylon,  where 
the  Euphrates  was  spanned  by  a  bridge  of  boats, 
they  were  routed  by  a  great  army  reinforced  by 
elephants,  which  trampled  them  under  their  feet, 
and  obliged  them  to  flee  down  the  river  towards 
the  site  of  the  Battle  of  the  River  of  Blood,  where 
they  had  surfeited  their  own  sanguinary  ambition 
but   a    few   months   before.     Four   thousand    Mos- 


BOWEIB  AND  KADESIA  235 

lems  were  cut  off,  and  two  thousand  more  rushed 
in  confusion  away  from  the  field,  carrying  the  news 
of  defeat  to  Medina  (Oct.,  634).  The  haughty  Omar 
met  them  with  firmness,  but  did  not  chide  them, 
though  it  must  have  been  a  sad  reverse,  coming,  as 
it  did,  but  seven  weeks  after  the  wonderful  victory 
of  Wacusa. 

Recruits  were  immediately  provided,  but  they 
could  not  be  sent  to  Persia  in  time  to  serve  the 
needs  of  the  army  there,  and  if  additions  had  not 
been  received  from  other  sources,  the  Moslems  must 
have  been  forced  out  of  their  position.  As  it  fell 
out,  they  were  able  to  make  advances,  to  repos- 
sess themselves  of  Hira,  and  finally  to  make  them- 
selves masters  of  Mesopotamia,  and  to  ravage  the 
rich  region  almost  at  will,  gaining  immense  stores  of 
provisions  and  spoil  of  all  sorts."^  This  victory 
excited  the  Moslems  to  greater  efforts,  but  it  also 
nerved  the  Persians  to  put  forth  their  utmost 
strength  to  repel  the  invaders,  who,  though  they  had 
been  in  the  land  but  two  years,  were  making  unex- 
pected progress. 

The  decisive  battle  was  fought  in  November,  635, 
at  Kadesia,  a  place  lying  southwest  of  Hira.f    Ther-:^ 

*  The  important  battle  in  this  campaign  (a.D.  635)  was  that  of 
Boweib,  near  Kufa,  at  which  Motanna,  a  noble  and  tried  commander, 
led  the  Saracen  troops.  The  struggle  was  long  and  severe,  but  the 
Persians  were  utterly  defeated,  and  great  spoil  encouraged  the  Mos- 
lems. Motanna,  who  never  recovered  from  the  wounds  received  on 
that  day,  is  ranked  second  only  to  the  great  Kalid  for  coolness, 
strategic  skill,  and  desperate  courage.  See  Sir  William  Muir's  "  The 
Early  Kalifate,"  page  139. 

f  Caussin  de  Perceval  puts  this  battle  down  under  date  February- 
March,  636,  and  Muller  gives  637  as  the  year. 


236  PALESTINE   AND   MESOPOTAMIA. 

the  hosts  of  the  Persians  gathered  during  the  sum- 
mer, until  over  a  hundred  thousand  troops  were  mar- 
shalled against  the  comparatively  small  army  of 
Moslems,  and  they  were  supported  by  many  elephants 
and  large  bodies  of  cavalry.  As  the  day  for  the 
struggle  approached  the  Moslems  nerved  them- 
selves for  the  fight  by  listening  to  verses  from  the 
Koran. 

Stir  up  the  faithful  to  the  fight !  Twenty  of  you  who  stand 
firm  shall  vanquish  two  hundred,  and  a  hundred  shall  put  a  thousand 
to  flight. 

Say  to  the  infidels,  Ye  shall  be  worsted,  and  in  gehenna  shall  ye 
be  gathered  together. 

Victory  is  from  Allah,  he  is  mighty  and  wise. 

When  ye  confront  a  troop,  stand  firm,  and  make  oft  mention  of 
Allah,  that  it  may  fare  well  with  you. 

Verily,  he  that  turneth  his  back  shall  draw  down  upon  him  the 
wrath  of  Allah. 

Let  the  faithful  trust  in  Allah  ;  he  hath  already  succored  you  at 
Bedr,  when  ye  were  the  weaker. 

And  ye  be  steadfast,  and  fear  Allah,  and  the  foe  come  upon  you  in 
haste,  Allah  will  succor  you  with  five  thousand  angels. 

When  the  day  for  the  battle  arrived  no  Arab  stirred 
until  the  hour  for  mid-day  prayer  had  passed,  but 
then  carnage  began  in  earnest.  The  Moslems  fought 
with  the  conviction  that  paradise  was  before  them, 
hosts  of  angels  around  them,  and  Iblis  behind  them. 
Believing  that  Allah  would  bring  them  the  victory, 
they  slaughtered  without  mercy,  and  finally  put  to 
flight  the  huge  elephants  that  had  been  roaming 
about  like  great  castles  on  foot,  carrying  con- 
sternation with  them ;  but  the  victory  was  not  yet 
gained.  The  second  day  gave  the  Moslems  new 
courage   and  depressed  the  Persians,  for  Omar  had 


THREE  DAYS  AT  KADESTA, 


m 


managed  to  get  his  reinforcements  to  the  field  from 
Syria,  and  the  elephants  were  not  in  a  condition  to 
be  placed  in  the  ranks.  The  Arabs  shouted  Allahu 
Akbar!  and  recited  their  endless  genealogies;  they 
saw  two  thousand  of  their  men  fall  in  their  tracks, 


ALL 


OMAR. 


SEALS    OF   EARLY    KALIFS. 


but  rejoiced  that  ten  thousand  Persians  had  bitten 
the  dust.  The  third  day  found  the  elephants  aiding 
the  Persians  again,  but  more  Syrians  had  arrived  to 
support  Islam,  and  all  day  long  the  carnage  contin- 
ued, not  even  stopping  when  darkness  fell  upon  the 


238  PALESTINE  AND  MESOPOTAMIA. 

scene.  The  Night  of  Clangor,  as  it  has  been  called, 
is  said  not  to  have  had  its  equal  for  intensity  of  tur- 
moil and  for  tiger-like  ferocity ;  it  ended  in  the  com- 
plete route  of  the  Persians  and  decided  the  fate  of 
the  land.  The  news  was  carried  to  Omar,  who  had 
been  intently  waiting; — "Allah  hath  scattered  the 
Persians!  "  He  knew  at  once  that  he  was  placed  in 
the  front  rank  of  the  world's  sovereigns  ;  but  his 
pride  was  not  stirred ;  he  bore  himself  with  the 
same  calm  majesty  as  before. 

The  victory  of  Kadesia  was  followed  by  the  com- 
plete subjection  of  Mesopotamia,  and  the  capture  of 
the  royal  city  of  Medain  with  rich  booty  (a.d.  637). 
Another  result  was  the  foundation  of  two  new 
capitals  (a.d.  638) :  Bassora,  in  the  delta  of  the 
Euphrates,  some  seventy  miles  from  the  Persian 
Gulf ;  and  Kufa,  about  the  same  distance  south  of 
the  site  of  Babylon  ;  both  of  which  were  afterwards 
very  influential  in  the  world  of  Islam.  They  were 
endowed  with  confiscated  lands,  and  became  hotbeds 
of  faction  and  centres  of  the  most  characteristic 
Oriental  luxury.  Literature,  politics,  and  theology 
were  cultivated  in  them,  and  their  population  is  said 
to  have  reached  nearly  two  hundred  thousand  per- 
sons ;  though  the  unhealthy  situation  of  Bassora 
caused  it  to  fall  behind.  At  the  present  time  Kufa 
is  in  ruins,  and  Bassora  is  a  city  with  some  trade 
carried  on  with  little  enterprise. 

While  these  important  operations  had  been  going 
forward  in  the  east,  the  forces  of  Omar  were  by  no 
means  idle  in  the  west,  and  Palestine  was  the  scene 
of  movements  to  which  we  now  turn.     It  is  not  easy 


A  MOVE   UPON-  DAMASCUS.  239 

to  present  to  our  minds  a  picture  of  the  civilization 
that  before  this  time  existed  along  the  route  from  the 
mouths  of  the  Euphrates  to  Damascus  and  the  Medi- 
terranean ;  nor  to  remember  that  there  was  a  com- 
merce of  considerable  proportions  carried  on  through- 
out the  vast  region.  After  the  slaughter  on  the 
Yermuk,  the  Moslem  army  received  directions  to 
move  upon  the  far-famed  city  of  Damascus,  though 
it  was  learned  that  it  had  been  largely  reinforced  in 
view  of  the  dangerous  proximity  of  the  Arab  hordes. 
The  famous  city,  combining  reminiscences  of  Abra- 
ham and  Paul,  of  David  and  Ahab  and  Alexander 
the  Great,  claimed  to  have  been  founded  by  Uz, 
grandson  of  Shem,  in  remote  antiquity.  Despite  the 
changing  fortune  of  many  ages,  it  still  continues  the 
centre  of  large  trade,  and  comprises  an  active  popu- 
lation of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  souls  ;  and 
it  is  now  as  it  was  then,  a  place  of  the  deepest  in- 
terest. The  beauty  of  the  surrounding  country  and 
the  richness  of  the  outlying  pleasure-grounds  were  a 
revelation  to  the  warriors  of  the  desert  as  they  gazed 
upon  the  plain  in  which  the  city  lies  ;  and  they  fondly 
imagined  that  there  was  nothing  more  entrancing  in 
paradise  ;  they  were  ready  to  enter  with  enthusiasm 
upon  a  campaign  for  its  possession. 

Damascus  was  not  greatly  alarmed  by  the  approach 
of  an  army  of  wanderers  from  the  desert,  which,  it 
was  believed,  would  flee  before  the  approaching  cold 
that  might  be  expected  in  that  latitude,  at  an  eleva- 
vation  of  two  thousand  feet  above  the  sea.  In  the 
minds  of  the  Saracens,  however,  there  was  no  thought 
of  giving  up,  and  month  after  month  passed,  while 


^40  PALESTIME  and  MESOPOTAMIA. 

they  still  sat  down  before  the  massive  walls  (a.D. 
635).  There  were  episodes  of  bravery  and  daring, 
which  tradition  has  exaggerated  into  stirring,  though 
savage,  tales  of  prowess  ;  but  we  must  pass  them 
over.  As  the  Medes  and  Persians  of  old  had  taken 
advantage  of  the  occurrence  of  a  festival  to  capture 
ancient  Babylon  unawares,  so  now  the  Moslems, 
learning  that  the  Roman  governor  was  celebrating  a 
feast  in  honor  of  a  son's  birthday,  ordered  a  general 
assault  upon  Damascus.  Surprising  the  unwatchful 
guardians  of  the  walls,  they  entered,  crying  ''  Allahu 
Akbar!"  and  penetrated  to  the  very  heart  of  the 
city,  when  they  learned  to  their  disgust  that  the 
Roman  governor,  promptly  making  up  his  mind  that 
resistance  would  be  hopeless,  had  hastened  to  sur- 
render. By  the  terms  of  the  capitulation,  the  Mos- 
lems were  to  receive  one  half  of  all  the  buildings, 
public  and  private,  of  the  gold  and  silver  and  lands  ; 
the  entire  imperial  domain  and  all  the  property  of 
such  citizens  as  had  fled  during  the  siege.  Besides 
this,  an  annual  tribute  was  to  be  paid  to  the  kalif. 

After  so  great  a  success,  the  Arabs  wished  to  ad- 
vance upon  Homs,  ancient  Emesa,  situated  on  the 
eastern  bank  of  the  Orontes,  some  ninety  miles 
farther  to  the  north  ;  but  there  was  an  army  in  the 
rear  at  about  the  same  distance,  at  Fihl,  ancient 
Bella,  a  few  miles  below  the  outlet  of  the  Sea  of 
Galilee,  and  against  that  it  was  thought  necessary  to 
make  the  next  movement.  The  army  accordingly 
marched  back  upon  the  pilgrim-road  towards  Me- 
dina, until  a  point  was  reached  at  which  the  turn  is 
made   towards   the    Jordan  ;    the   Yermuk   was   re- 


THE  FALL    OF  FIHL.  2\\ 

crossed,  and  an  encampment  was  effected  before  the 
doomed  town.  After  a  time,  in  the  summer  of  635, 
the  Romans  in  Fihl  found  their  resources  faiHng,  and 
determined  to  make  an  attack  upon  the  Moslems, 
but  they  encountered  a  fierce  repulse  ;  their  leader 
was  killed,  their  army  routed,  and  the  whole  of  the 
region  of  the  Jordan,  as  well  as  all  of  Central  Syria 
as  far  east  as  Tadmor  in  the  Wilderness,  fell  under 
the  sway  of  the  impetuous  Moslems.  The  court  of 
Byzantium  was  listless,  and  the  patriotism  of  the 
S3^rians  was  never  strong  ;  the  Bedawins  of  the 
country  welcomed  the  change  of  rulers. 

After  the  fall  of  Fihl,  a  portion  of  the  army  was 
sent  to  co-operate  in  Irak,  and  gained  the  success 
that  we  have  already  noticed. 


XXVII. 

JERUSALEM    CAPTURED, 

Every  new  victory  gave  the  Arabs  increased 
courage  and  ambition  ;  and  well  might  they  be  ex- 
cited as  they  thought  of  the  wonderful  progress  that 
they  had  already  made  in  their  encroachments  upon 
the  domains  of  those  two  vast  empires  which,  had  pre- 
viously hemmed  them  in, — those  two  empires  that 
had  so  lately  divided  the  civilized  world  between 
them.  It  verily  looked  as  though  the  prophet  had 
reason,  when  he  commanded  his  followers  to  go 
forth  and  bring  the  nations  to  allegiance  to  Allah, 
for  surely  they  could  not  have  been  more  completely 
successful  in  their  sanguinary  work. 

There  was  no  reason  now  for  not  advancing  upon 
Homs,  and  consequently,  leaving  a  governor  to  rule 
Damascus  and  an  army  to  continue  the  work  of  con- 
quest in  Palestine,  the  main  force  took  the  route  to 
the  northward,  crossing  the  Yermuk  again,  passing 
by  the  ruins  of  the  splendid  city  of  Gadara,  beyond 
Jordan,  (where  the  miracle  of  healing  the  demoniac 
was  performed,  where  the  tombs,  cut  in  the  rocky 
hillsides,  its  most  interesting  remains,  are  stUl  in- 
habited by  dangerous  troglodytes,)  and  leaving  Baal- 
beck  and  Mount  Lebanon  on  their  left  hand,  they 


J  MOVE  UPON  ANTiocn.  243 

invested  the  city.  The  Romans  thought  to  make  a 
dash  upon  Damascus,  but  their  intention  became 
known  and  was  thwarted.  Heraclius,  who  was  him- 
self present,  retired  to  the  ancient  city  of  Edessa,  in 
the  northern  borders  of  Mesopotamia,  evidently  ex- 
pecting to  rouse  the  Bedawins  in  his  behalf,  but  he 
was  not  successful,  and  the  town  surrendered,  leaving 
the  Moslems  free  to  carry  their  devastation  north- 
ward.    (Spring  of  636  A.D.) 

As  they  progressed,  one  city  after  another  gave  up 
without  resistance  *  (excepting  that  Laodicea  was 
taken  by  assault),  and  they  appeared  before  Aleppo, 
fortified  with  the  strongest  castle  in  all  Syria.  There 
was  a  division  of  counsel  among  the  inhabitants  of 
this  wealthy  city  of  trade,  and  though  there  was 
some  hard  fighting,  the  timidity  of  capital  forced 
the  people  to  give  way,  and  they  offered  a  ransom 
for  the  place.  The  bargain  was  fairly  made,  but  the 
more  soldierly  inhabitants  would  not  permit  it  to  be 
carried  out,  and  the  siege  was  prolonged.  At  last 
the  Saracens  feigned  to  retire,  and  sent  a  secret  band 
to  storm  the  castle,  which  was  then  taken  with  great 
bloodshed. 

The  next  move  was  upon  the  capital  of  the  Ro- 
man government  in  the  East,  the  luxurious  and 
beautiful  city  of  Antioch,  lying  directly  west  from 
Aleppo.  It  was  strongly  fortified,  but  the  courage 
of  the  warrior  had  not  been  cultivated  by  the  in- 
habitants. A  single  sharp  encounter  outside  of  the 
walls  served  to  dishearten  them,  and  the  city  was  in- 

*  Baalbeck  (ancient  Heliopolis)  and  Kinnisrin  (ancient  Chalcis)  ob- 
tained a  truce  on  payment  of  a  considerable  tribute. 


244  JERUSALEM   CAPTURED. 

gloriously  given  up.  The  emperor,  when  he  saw  the 
result  that  was  sure  to  come,  called  a  meeting  of 
bishops  and  wept  over  the  fate  of  Syria  ;  he  even 
gave  his  consent  to  an  attempt  to  assassinate  the 
kalif,  and  a  messenger  was  sent  to  Medina  to  ac- 
complish the  deed  ;  but  finally,  despairing  of  his 
cause,  he  secretly  hurried  from  the  city,  and  reaching 
the  sea,  took  ship  for  Constantinople.  The  Saracens 
had  now  made  their  most  direct  thrust  at  the  religion 
of  the  People  with  the  Book,  for  no  city  that  they 
had  yet  taken  was  nearly  so  closely  connected  with 
the  early  history  of  the  Christian  church  as  this. 
There  the  followers  of  Jesus  had  received  their 
name  ;  there  St.  Paul  had  first  exercised  his  minis- 
terial office  ;  thence  he  went  out  on  his  first,  second, 
and  third  missionary  journeys  ;  there  Ignatius  had 
been  condemned  by  Trajan  to  be  torn  by  wild 
beasts  ;  and  there  the  golden-mouthed  Chrysostom 
had  first  displayed  his  remarkable  gifts  as  a  preacher. 
Its  walls  were  lofty  and  thick,  and  extended  for 
miles  over  ravines,  and  even  mountain  summits  ;  so 
beautiful  was  it,  indeed,  that  it  was  called  the  Queen 
of  the  Orient.  It  had  been  captured  by  the  Great 
Pompey,  almost  destroyed  by  an  earthquake  the 
following  century,  had  been  the  seat  of  the  Mace- 
donian rulers  of  Syria,  and  the  Roman  governors, 
and  it  was  destined  to  have  still  more  noteworthy 
vicissitudes  in  after  centuries. 

While  the  armies  of  Islam  were  thus  pushing  their 
faith  at  the  point  of  the  lance,  the  kalif  at  Medina 
was  not  forgetful  of  his  mission  as  a  soldier  of  the 
creed  of  the  prophet   who  had  left  it  as  his  dying 


A    DIWAN  ESTABLISHED.  245 

order  that  in  Arabia  there  should  be  but  one  re- 
ligion. There  were  Jews  and  Christians  in  the  land 
still,  and  some  of  them  had  accumulated  much 
wealth  ;  they  were  not  accused  of  being  traitors  to 
the  government,  but  they  were  aliens  to  the  faith, 
and  as  such  were  not  to  be  suffered  to  contaminate 
the  peninsula.  They  were  peremptorily  directed  to 
give  up  the  graves  of  their  forefathers  and  the  homes 
of  their  childhood.  Other  abiding-places  were,  it  is 
true,  offered  them,  and  they  were  not  ousted  with 
sudden  haste,  but  it  was  none  the  less  a  grievance 
hard  to  be  borne  ;  and,  though  history  gives  little 
account  of  the  circumstances  of  their  expatriation, 
we  may  imagine  without  difficulty  the  heartrendings 
with  which  it  was  accompanied. 

The  increase  of  national  revenue  from  conquest 
called  at  this  time  for  orderly  arrangements  for  the 
distribution  of  spoil,  and  Omar  organized  a  Diwan, 
or  Department  of  the  Exchequer  (named  from  the 
Persian  word  for  the  register  in  which  its  records 
were  kept),  under  the  rules  of  which  the  booty  was 
assigned  to  the  different  classes  authorized  to  receive 
it,  in  accordance  to  their  rank,  from  the  ''  Mothers 
of  the  Faithful  "  down  to  the  ordinary  women,  who 
each  received  one  tenth  of  a  man's  share  ;  and  even 
lower,  for  the  slaves  were  not  forgotten.  This  scale 
afforded  the  basis  upon  which  the  aristocracy  of  the 
nation  was  founded.  It  perpetuated  the  military 
spirit,  by  making  this  income  dependent  upon  suc- 
cessful war;  and  it  firmly  united  the  whole  popula- 
tion by  interesting  all  in  national  aggrandizement. 
Large  numbers  of  citizens  emig^rated  at  this  time  to 


246  JERUSALEM   CAPTURED. 

Kufa  and  Bassora,  and  still  held  their  rights  as 
recorded  in  the  registers  of    the  Diwan. 

At  the  same  time  that  Abu  Bekr  had  sent  out  his 
armies  into  Northern  Palestine,  he  had  commissioned 
that  Amr,  who  had  been  converted  to  Islam  when 
the  great  Kalid  had  given  it  his  allegiance,  to 
advance  upon  Palestine,  or  Filistin,  by  which  name 
he  signified  the  region  south  and  west  of  a  line 
drawn  from  Mount  Carmel  on  the  Mediterranean  to 
the  northern  end  of  the  Dead  Sea.  The  province  of 
Jordan,  called  Ordonna  by  the  Arabs,  had  fallen  into 
their  hands  after  their  victories  in  the  north,  but 
the  Romans  in  Filistin  felt  more  secure,  since  they 
had  the  seaport  of  Csesarea  open  on  one  hand  for 
reinforcements,  while  Egypt  was  on  the  other,  and 
because  its  strong  places  were  well  garrisoned. 

In  the  spring  of  636  Amr  prepared  to  begin 
active  operation  in  his  department,  and  first  attacked 
the  Romans  at  Ajnadein,  a  place  west  of  Jerusalem. 
We  have  no  details  of  the  struggle,  but  are  simply 
told  that  the  battle  was  as  fierce  and  bloody  as  that 
in  the  gorge  of  the  Yermuk,  which  is  as  emphatic 
an  expression  as  the  historian  thought  he  could  pos- 
sibly use.  The  Romans  fell  back  upon  Jerusalem, 
and  Amr  quickly  took  possession  of  Joppa,  Gaza, 
and  all  the  other  strongholds  that  might  interfere 
with  his  proposed  attempt  upon  the  Holy  City.  The 
Roman  general  in  command  lost  courage  before  Amt 
actually  arrived  at  the  gates  of  Jerusalem,  and 
hastily  retreated  in  the  direction  of  Egypt,  leaving 
the  patriarch  to  act  as  he  thought  best.  He  asked 
terms  of  peace,  only  stipulating  that  Omar  should 


PAMASCUS   AND    THE   REGION   AROUNP, 


248 


JERUSALEM  CAPTURED. 


come  in  person  to  receive  the  capitulation,  because, 
as  tradition  asserts,  there  was  a  prophecy  in  the 
books  of  the  Jews  that  the  city  should  one  day  be 
captured  by  a  king  having  but  three  letters  in  his 
name,  and  that  of  Omar  comprised  no  more  in  the 
Arabic  tongue.  It  is  said  that  this  tradition,  and 
the  military  successes  of  Amr,  caused  the  Roman 
general  to  lose  heart,  and  the  explanation  redeems 
his  courage  at  the  expense  of  his  superstition,  which 
we  must  confess,  however,  was  only  that  of  his  age. 


p. 

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i^ 

g.-~--~g5^^-Ss5^s 

:S-T,J^^::^-~ 

^^^S 

w^^ 

VIEW    OF   A    PORTION    OF   THE    WALLS   OF   JERUSALEM. 

The  sight  of  a  man  travelling  over  the  deserts 
from  Medina  to  Syria  is  no  new  one  to  us ;  but  on 
an  occasion  so  exceptional  as  this,  we  might  well 
expect  to  see  some  circumstances  differing  from  the 
ordinary.  No  successor  of  the  prophet  had  before 
this  journeyed  beyond  the  limits  of  Arabia  ;  the 
kalif  was  now  more  powerful  than  the  king  of  Persia 
or  the  emperor  of  the  Romans;  would  he  not  make 
through  the  dominions  that  he  governed  so  auto- 
cratically a  progress  that  would  strike  admiration 
and  awe  into  his  subjects.^     No  :  clad  in  the  plainest 


OMAR'S   JOURNEY    TO   JERUSALEM.         249 

of  clothes,  he  rode  a  sorrel  camel,  over  the  back  of 
which  rough  saddlebags  were  thrown  containing 
parched  grain  in  one  pouch,  and  dates  and  dried 
fruit  in  the  other ;  before  him  hung  a  sack  for  water, 
and  behind,  a  platter  of  wood  out  of  which  he  and  his 
companions  ate  together,  as  they  had  at  his  invitation 
when  he  took  his  meals  on  the  steps  of  the  mosque 
at  Medina.  At  night  he  laid  himself  down  beneath 
a  tree  or  under  a  tent ;  in  the  morning  he  bowed 
toward  Mecca  and  offered  his  devotions  before  pro- 
ceeding on  his  way,  and  he  stopped  as  occasion 
demanded  to  dispense  the  primitive  justice  that  his 
subjects  called  for.  Sometimes  he  varied  the  mon- 
otony of  the  tedious  journey  by  dismounting  and 
walking  while  a  slave  took  his  seat  upon  the  beast. 

When  Omar  arrived  within  a  day's  journey  of  Je- 
rusalem he  was  surprised  to  see  his  representatives 
approaching  to  welcome  him  ;  their  beasts  and  them- 
selves caparisoned  in  the  rich  stuffs  of  Damascus ; 
and  he  cried  out  in  disgust :  *'  Is  it  thus  that  ye  come 
out  to  meet  me  ?  Have  two  years  effected  such  a 
change?"  at  the  same  time  casting  a  handful  of 
gravel  in  the  faces  of  the  astonished  generals.  They 
threw  aside  their  gay  robes  and  displayed  their 
armor,  at  which  the  kalif  cried :  ''  Enough  !  Go  for- 
ward!  "  Upon  Omar's  arrival  at  Jerusalem,  an  inter- 
view was  arranged  with  the  patriarch,  and  terms 
settled  for  the  surrender. 

The  Christians  were  bound  to  build  no  new 
churches,  and  the  Moslems  were  always  to  be  ad- 
mitted to  those  then  standing ;  the  doors  of  their 
homes  were  ever  to  be  open   to  all  strangers  and 


250  JERUSALEM  CAPTURED, 

travellers  ;  Moslems  journeying  were  to  be  enter- 
tained free  of  expense  for  three  days  at  a  time  ;  Jews 
should  not  interfere  with  the  conversion  of  any  to 
Islam  ;  should  rise  and  stand  before  Moslems  as  sign 
of  respect ;  they  should  adopt  different  dress  from 
the  Moslems,  have  different  names,  a  different  style  of 
parting  the  hair,  and  different  modes  of  talking ;  they 
could  not  use  the  Arabic  tongue,  sell  wine,  ride  upon 
saddles,  bear  arms,  ring  the  bells  of  their  churches, 
set  up  crosses,  nor  take  any  servant  that  had  be- 
longed to  a  Moslem ;  they  could  not  have  windows 
overlooking  Moslems  in  their  houses,  and  were  al- 
ways to  wear  the  same  style  of  dress,  and  have  gir- 
dles about  the  waist. 

These  terms  agreed  upon,  Omar  entered  the  city 
on  foot,  accompanied  by  the  patriarch,  with  whom 
he  conversed  about  the  antiquities  that  met  his  eye  ; 
the  patriarch  the  while,  according  to  Christian  tradi- 
tion, loathing  from  his  very  heart  the  filthy  son  of 
the  desert  as  he  looked  at  his  coarse  garments  of 
wool,  patched  as  they  were  with  sheepskin  and  soiled 
by  the  long  journey.  When,  at  last,  he  saw  the 
kalif  seated  in  the  Church  of  the  Resurrection,  he 
exclaimed  :  *'  Verily,  this  is  the  '  abomination  of 
desolation '  predicted  by  Daniel  the  prophet,  stand- 
ing in  the  holy  place  !  " 


XXVIII. 

HOW    EGYPT   AND    PERSIA   WERE    CONQUERED. 

Omar  did  not  care  to  remain  long  at  Jerusalem. 
He  had  left  Ali  in  charge  of  affairs  in  Medina,  and 
felt  no  uneasiness  on  that  account ;  but  it  was  some 
thing  new  for  the  kalif  to  be  absent  from  the  City 
of  the  Prophet  at  all.  During  his  stay  he  selected  as 
a  site  on  which  to  build  a  mosque,  the  place  from 
which  tradition  afifirmed  that  Mohammed  had  taken 
his  departure  to  heaven  on  the  occasion  of  his  re- 
markable '  visit  '  to  paradise, — a  spot  marked,  too,  by 
the  stone  on  which  Jacob  had  rested  his  head,  where 
the  faithful  were  long  permitted  to  lay  their  hands 
in  the  indentation  left  by  the  prophet's  foot!  He 
made  arrangements  for  governing  Syria  in  two  di- 
visions, and  prepared  for  an  invasion  of  Egypt,  then 
weak  and  ready  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  any  master 
strong  enough  to  make  an  attempt  to  win  the  prize. 

The  kalif  accomplished  the  return  to  Medina  in  the 
same  lowly  manner  that  he  had  journeyed  thence  ; 
and  he  was  welcomed  with  great  joy,  for  the  people 
had  somewhat  feared  lest  the  city  at  which  they  ex- 
pected all  mankind  would  be  assembled  at  the  resur- 
rection might  have  so  much  charmed  him  as  to 
tempt  him  to  make  it  his  permanent  abode. 

251 


252  EGYPT  AND  PERSIA    CONQUERED. 

It  seems  evident  that  Omar  now  began  to  feel  se- 
cure  of  the  conquests  his  army  had  made,  for  at 
about  this  time  he  renewed  his  ahenation  from  Kalid, 
who  had  been  so  vahant  in  the  support  of  Islam.  Af- 
ter his  return  from  Jerusalem,  he  gave  him  a  brief 
command  at  Kinnesrin  (Chalcis),  a  city  not  far  from 
Aleppo,  which,  as  we  have  noted,  Kalid  had  himself 
captured  ;  but  in  638,  he  brought  him  to  trial  at 
Homs  for  alleged  misappropriation  of  funds,  and 
condemned  him  to  be  deposed  and  fined.  Upon 
this,  the  broken-down  general  died  in  neglect  at 
Homs,  in  the  year  642.  The  kalif  was  mortal,  and 
if  he  had  supposed  there  was  to  be  need  of  the  ser- 
vices of  this  valiant  man,  doubtless  he  would  have 
found  some  means  to  keep  him  in  authority. 

During  the  year  638,  the  Romans  made  a  last 
effort  to  drive  the  Arabs  from  Syria ;  and  it  failed, 
though  the  danger  was  at  one  juncture  so  threaten- 
ing that  the  kalif  left  Medina  the  second  time  with 
the  intention  of  giving  his  personal  assistance  to  his 
followers.  There  was  no  need,  however,  for  the 
Bedawin  allies  of  the  invaders  became  alarmed  by 
movements  in  Mesopotamia,  and  deserted,  after 
which  the  Romans  were  routed  by  the  Moslems.  It 
was  in  the  same  year  that  Caesarea,  the  last  city  in 
Palestine  to  succumb,  surrendered  to  Amr,  who  had 
long  besieged  it. 

The  conquest  of  Syria  was  followed  in  Arabia  by 
months  of  famine,  called  the  Year  of  Ashes,  because 
the  dry  dust  of  the  desert,  scattered  by  the  winds, 
rendered  the  atmosphere  hazy  (639).  There  was  also 
a  devastating  plague  in  Syria  the  same  year,  which 


THE    YEAR    OF  ASHES.  253 

spread  to  the  valley  of  Mesopotamia,  and  down  the 
rivers  as  far  as  the  new  metropolis  of  Bassora. 
Though  Omar  generously  set  out  for  Syria  to  see  in 
what  manner  he  might  alleviate  the  condition  of  his 
suffering  subjects,  he  was  obliged  to  yield  to  the  en- 
treaties of  his  counsellors  and  return  again,  after 
ordering  the  Arab  population  to  be  removed  from 
the  infected  regions  to  more  salubrious  and  elevated 
lands.  He  said,  as  he  returned  to  his  capital :  "  I  flee 
from  the  decree  of  Allah  unto  the  decree  of  Allah." 

The  large  number  of  deaths  that  occurred  in  Syria 
during  the  plague  occasioned  great  confusion  in 
settling  estates.  Omar  was  after  all  obliged  to  visit 
the  region,  and  he  went  from  one  end  to  the  other, 
bringing  order  out  of  the  confusion.  The  governor- 
ship was  left  in  the  hands  of  Moawia,  son  of  Abu 
Sofian,  a  man  who,  as  we  shall  soon  learn,  was  pos- 
sessed of  great  ability  and  wisdom,  and  controlled  by 
overweening  ambition.  On  his  departure  for  Medina, 
Bilal,  the  aged  muezzin  who  had  proclaimed  the 
hour  of  prayer  during  the  life  of  the  prophet  and 
had  resigned  the  office  at  his  death,  once  more 
performed  his  duties.  As  the  well-remembered  cry 
arose,  the  strong  warriors  to  whom  it  had  been 
familiar  aforetime  were  affected  to  tears,  and  the  air 
was  filled  with  their  sobs.  Two  years  afterward  the 
aged  servitor  died  at  Damascus. 

Amr  was  eager  to  carry  out  the  commission  that 
he  had  received  to  make  war  upon  Egypt,  and  set 
out  in  640  with  an  army  of  some  four  thousand  men, 
which  was,  however,  augmented  materially  before  he 
reached  his  destination,  when  it  numbered  perhaps 


254  EGYPT  AND   PERSIA    CONQUERED. 

four  times  as  many.  The  luxurious-  capital,  Alex- 
andria, was  the  point  at  which  Amr  aimed ;  it  was 
the  second  city  in  the  Byzantine  empire,  and  through 
its  vast  commerce  at  this  time  sent  provisions  of 
grain  to  Constantinople,  as  it  formerly  had  supplied 
Rome.  Commerce  is  naturally  unwarlike  and  timid, 
as  we  have  had  occasion  already  to  notice ;  and 
Egypt  was  rich  as  well  as  weak.  Amr  lost  no  time 
in  beginning  a  siege  of  Alexandria,  and  the  Byzan- 
tines, who  might  have  sent  the  city  succor  by  sea, 
allowed  the  opportunity  to  pass,  owing  to  their  own 
slackness,  and  the  death  of  Heraclius  which  occurred 
during  the  progress  of  the  siege  (March  1 1,  641).  At 
last  the  general  in  command,  and  the  citizens,  lost 
hope  of  being  able  to  protect  themselves,  and  sur- 
rendered 3n  condition  that  the  place  should  not 
be  sacked ;  agreeing  to  pay  the  tribute  that  the 
Moslems  were  accustomed  to  demand,  Omar  say- 
ing :  ''  Tribute  is  better  than  spoil,  for  it  continueth  !  *' 
(a.d.  641)  Amr  established  his  head-quarters  near 
Memphis,  where,  on  the  site  of  Babylon,  which  he 
destroyed,  a  station  grew  up,  known  as  Fostat,  *'  the 
Encampment  "  (the  present  Cairo),  and  there  he  laid 
the  foundation  of  a  mosque,  which  still  bears  his 
name.  He  left  the  land  in  the  hands  of  the  Egyp- 
tians, having  established  communication  by  sea  with 
the  port  of  Medina,  through  which  means  grain  was 
carried  from  the  country  of  the  pyramids  to  Arabia.*^ 

*  Many  writers,  following  Abulfaraj,  affirm  that  after  the  capitu- 
lation of  Alexandria  the  vast  library  was  destroyed,  and  its  books  used 
in  the  four  thousand  baths  of  the  city  for  fuel,  six  months  being 
almost  too  short  a  time  to  exhaust  the  supply.  In  spite  of  Dean 
Milman's  assertion,  the  story  is  now  discredited. 


A  SAGACIOUS  OBJECT-LESSON. 


255 


It  is  related  that  Amr  was  not  satisfied  with  the 
haughty  bearing  of  the  natives  towards  his  country- 
men, and  in  order  to  raise  their  respect  for  their 
conquerors,  adopted  a  singular  expedient.  He  pre- 
pared a  feast  of  camels  for  his  army,  after  their  native 
fashion,  and  then  called  the  Egyptians  to  come  and 
-see  the  repast.     The  next  day  he  prepared  a  sump- 


INTERIOR   OF   MOSQUE   OF   AMR   AT    CAIRO. 
(From  a  drawing  by  Coste.) 

tuous  banquet,  with  all  the  delicacies  of  the  Nile 
region,  and  showed  that  his  warriors  feasted  with  the 
same  good  appetites  as  they  had  on  the  previous 
occasion.  Another  day  he  brought  his  troops  out 
for  parade,  and  when  the  Egyptians  thronged  to  see 
the  sight,  he  said  to  them  :  ''  I  have  shown  you  the 
simple  mode  of  life  of  my  people  at  home ;   I  have 


256  EGYPT  AND  PERSIA    CONQUERED, 

shown  you  that  they  reUsh  the  dainties  of  other 
lands  also  ;  and  I  show  you  now  that  they  are  strong 
in  arms  notwithstanding."  As  the  natives  went  away 
from  the  scene,  they  said  one  to  another:  ''The 
Arabs  have  but  to  raise  the  heel  upon  us  and  it 
sufifices !  "  The  kalif  was  naturally  much  pleased 
at  the  success  of  his  general's  expedient. 

Omar  was  cautious  and  did  not  seem  to  be  in  as 
much  haste  to  advance  towards  Persia,  as  he  had  tow- 
ards Egypt  ;  but  the  time  was  coming  for  the  sub- 
jugation of  that  great  and  powerful  land.  Hostili- 
ties opened  in  (:>^'J^  and  continued  with  varying 
fortunes,  until  Yezdegird,  its  king,  overpowered,  de- 
prived of  his  kingdom  and  his  fortunes,  and  deserted 
by  his  followers,  finally  died  (651  A.D.),  a  refugee, 
in  a  miserable  hut,  be)^ond  the  distant  Oxus,  whither 
he  had  fled,  taking  his  way  through  Ispahan  and 
Merv.* 

In  the  campaigns  that  thus  closed,  armies  had 
been  sent  from  Kufa  and  Bassora  ;  they  had  besieged 
and  taken  Sus,  the  royal  Shushan  of  ancient  Persian 
memories,  making  by  the  way  permanent  provision 
for  the  preservation  of  the  tomb  of  Daniel  the 
prophet ;  they  had  marched  east  as  far  as  Persepolis, 
and  they  had  gone  northward  to  Nevahend.  At  the 
last  place,  under  the  shadow  of  the  lofty  peaks  of 
Elwand,    they    had     fought    a    fierce    battle    which 

*  Meiv  (sometimes  written  Merou),  was  one  of  the  capitals  of  Kor- 
assan  in  the  reign  of  the  next  kalif.  The  rule  of  the  Saracens  there 
ended  in  874.  Like  Samarkand  and  Bokkara,  it  was  the  seat  of  a 
school  of  science  and  letters.  Mamun  was  brought  up  there.  The 
Seljuks  took  possession  of  it  in  1037,  and  there  Alp  Arslan  was 
buried.     In  1221,  Merv  suffered  from  Mongol  butchery. 


A    MOSQUE    OF   ISPAHAN. 
(From  a  drawing  by  Coste.) 


258  EGYPT  AND  PERSIA    CONQUERED. 

brought  the  inhabitants  of  Western  Persia  to  terms 
(642  A.D.).  Vast  sums  had  been  sent  to  the  treas- 
ury at  Medina  after  these  successes,  but  the  strong 
will  of  the  Persian  king  was  not  yet  broken,  and  he 
gathered  forces  that  prolonged  the  struggle  until  at 
last  both  armies  met  at  Rei  (643  A.D.),  five  or  six 
miles  south  of  Teheran.  There  Yezdegird  was 
forced  upon  his  fatal  flight.  Teheran  and  in  fact  all 
Persia  was  at  the  mercy  of  the  generals  of  Omar, 
whose  exploits  rivalled  those  of  the  great  Alexander 
in  the  same  regions.* 

The  kalif  was  now  nearing  the  close  of  his  career; 
he  had  been  unflinchingly  just  in  his  government  at 
home,  and  inexorable  in  his  severity  towards  the 
foes  of  Islam  abroad,  and  many  enemies  had  been 
raised  up  who  were  ready  at  any  opportune  moment 
to  put  an  end  to  his  life.  A  mythical  story  relates 
that  one  of  those  who  had  smarted  under  his  im- 
partial justice  determined  to  have  him  assassinated, 
and  sent  a  man  to  perform  the  deed,  who  climbed 
into  a  tree  overlooking  a  place  that  Omar  fre- 
quented. When  the  moment  for  the  murderous 
act  arrived,  the  man  prepared  to  descend,  but,  lo,  a 
guardian  lion  walked  about  the  kalif,  ever  and  anon 
kissing  his  feet  ;  and  the  assassin  was  led  through 
surprise  and  fear,  not  only  to  desist  from  his  wicked 
enterprise,  but  to  become  a  devout  Moslem. 

Omar  was  accustomed  to  visit  Mecca  annually  at 
the  time  of  the  pilgrimage,  and  on  one  of  these  oc- 
casions he  enlarged  the  precincts  of  the  Kaaba,  and 
laid  out  the  grand   square   around  it.     He  found  his 

*  Sec  "  The  Story  of  Alexander's  Kingdom,"  by  J.  P.  Mahaffy. 


26o  EGYPT  AND  PERSIA    CONQUERED. 

colonies  at  Kufa  and  Bassora  troublesome  to  man- 
age ;  discontent  and  turbulence  disquieted  those 
cities,  in  which  intrigues  were  destined  to  grow 
rankly  in  the  future. 

In  the  seventeenth  year  after  the  emigration  of 
Mohammed  from  Mecca,  Omar  took  pains  to  estab- 
lish the  era  for  his  people,  and  made  the  first  new 
moon  in  the  month  Moharrem,  of  the  year  of  the 
Hejra,  the  point  for  the  purpose.  Historians  have 
generally  made  this  the  i6th  of  July,  622,  though 
Caussin  de  Perceval,  a  most  careful  investigator  of 
the  subject,  calculates  that  it  was  really  the  19th  of 
April. 

Among  the  slaves  that  had  been  marched  to 
Medina  from  the  battle-field  of  Nevahend,  was  one 
familiarily  known  as  Abu  Lulu,  who  wrought  at  the 
carpenter's  bench,  making  windmills  and  giving  his 
gains  to  his  Moslem  master.  One  day  in  the  autumn 
of  the  year  644,  he  appeared  before  Omar  asking  that 
he  might  be  relieved  from  somewhat  of  his  master's 
oppression.  The  kalif  heard  him  patiently,  but  re- 
fused to  interfere,  and  Abu  Lulu  was  deeply  irri- 
tated. The  following  morning  he  might  have  been 
seen  among  the  worshippers  in  the  mosque,  occupy- 
ing the  foremost  place.  The  kalif  entered  and 
opened  his  mouth  with  the  words  "■  Allahu  akbar  !  " 
when  the  keen  dagger  of  Abu  Lulu  was  thrust  into 
his  back,  and  he  fell  to  the  ground.  The  Moslems 
threw   themselves   upon   the  assassin,  but  he  killed 

'  See  Caussin  de  Perceval,"  Essai  stir  r Histoire  des  Arabes,"  vol 
iii.,  p.  20,  and  Muir's  "  Life  of  Mahomet,"  p.  486,  and  *'  The  Early 
Califate,"  pp.  145.  271.     See  also,  p.  I2i, 


DEATH  OF  OMAR.  26 1 

some  and  wounded  others,  running  about  in  a  wild- 
ness  of  irrational  despair,  and  finally  stabbed  himself 
to  death. 

The  Commander  of  the  Faithful,  as  Omar  was 
then  called,  lingered  several  days,  during  which  he 
appointed  a  commission  of  five,  of  the  chiefest 
among  those  who  had  been  companions  of  the 
prophet,  to  nominate  his  successor,  uttering  as  his 
last  words  the  following  advice  to  him  who  should 
be  chosen  : 

"  Give  it  as  my  dying  bequest,  that  he  be  kind  to 
the  men  of  this  city,  which  gave  a  home  to  us  and 
to  the  faith  ;  that  he  make  much  of  their  virtues  and 
pass  lightly  over  their  faults.  Bid  him  treat  well 
the  Arab  tribes,  for,  verily,  they  are  the  backbone 
of  Islam  ;  the  tithe  that  he  taketh  from  them,  let 
him  give  it  back  unto  them  for  the  nourishment  of 
their  poor.  Let  him  faithfully  fulfil  the  covenant  of 
the  prophet  to  the  Jews  and  Christians.  Oh  !  Allah, 
I  have  finished  my  course ;  to  him  that  cometh 
after  me  I  leave  the  kingdom  firmly  established  and 
at  peace  !  " 

Thus  ended  the  eventful  life  of  the  second  kalif. 
He  had  entered  upon  office  ruler  of  Arabia  only ; 
he  closed  his  career  master  also  of  Egypt,  Palestine, 
Irak,  Mesopotamia,  and  Persia.  In  the  exaggerated 
language  of  his  people,  he  had  taken  from  the  infi- 
dels ''  thirty-six  thousand  cities  or  castles,  destroyed 
four  thousand  temples  or  churches,  and  founded  or 
endowed  fourteen  hundred  mosques  '*  ;  but  there  is 
no  need  to  magnify  his  achievements  ;  they  are  suffi- 
ciently  remarkable    if    recounted    in    simple    truth. 


262  EGYPT  AND  PEkSiA    CONQUERED. 

Humble  as  the  most  lowly,  he  was  accustomed  to 
sit  on  the  steps  of  the  mosque  at  Medina  eating  his 
barley-bread  and  dates,  and  he  often  slept  on  its 
porch  or  in  a  tree,  while  wielding  a  sceptre  that  the 
most  powerful  nations  of  his  time  felt  and  feared. 

Omar  breathed  his  last  on  a  Friday  in  November, 
644,  and  was  buried  the  following  day  by  the  side  of 
Abu  Bekr  and  the  prophet. 


XXIX. 

FAVORITISM   AND    INTRIGUE. 

The  golden  age  of  the  Saracens  was  now  behind 
them  ;  they  were  never  again  to  enjoy  a  period  of  un- 
interrupted internal  harmony  and  of  external  con- 
quest ;  they  were  now  to  be  plunged  into  strife, 
sedition,  jealous  intrigues,  and  fratricidal  bloodshed- 
ding,  but  none  the  less  were  they  to  go  on  conquer- 
ing ;  in  spite  of  every  drawback,  their  religion  and 
the  kingdoms  that  it  dominated  were  to  continue, 
and  to  remain  the  same.  As  there  was  but  one 
Allah  so  there  could  properly  be  but  one  prophet, 
who  was  not  only  the  mouthpiece  of  Allah,  but  also 
the  temporal  autocrat  whose  government  was  indi^ 
visible  ;  so  that  the  success  of  Islam,  if  complete, 
would  have  placed  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth 
under  the  kalif  of  Medina. 

When  death  interrupted  the  career  of  Mohammed, 
it  forced  him  to  leave  undone  some  things  that  he 
intended  to  have  finished  ;  and  the  chief  of  these, 
we  may  suppose,  was  the  revision  of  the  Koran. 
We  can  never  know  what  difference  this  would 
have  wrought  in  Islam  ;  but  it  is  fair  to  believe 
that  it  would  have  made  clear  the  method  by  which 
Moslem  rulers  were   to  be  chosen,    and   thus  have 

263 


264  FAVORITISM  AND  INTRIGUE. 

relieved  the  people  of  the  fear  of  anarchy  that  came 
to  them  when  he  died,  when  Abu  Bekr  died,  and,  in 
still  larger  measure,  when  the  dagger  of  Abu  Lulu 
took  off  the  great  Omar.  The  commission  that 
Omar  had  appointed  sat  for  three  days  in  tumultu- 
ous conference  while  the  kalif  still  wrestled  with 
death,  and  then  adjourned  to  await  the  result. 
When  the  members  again  met,  they  wasted  still 
more  time  in  wrangling,  —  for  they  represented 
pretty  fairly  the  rival  familes  of  Islam, — the  Hashi- 
mites,  descended  from  Abd  Menaf,  and  the  Omiades, 
children  of  Omia  son  of  Abd  Shems,  who  also  was  a 
son  of  Abd  Menaf.  The  kalifate  was  offered  to  Ali 
on  condition  that  he  would  agree  to  govern  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  precedents  established  by  Abu 
Bekr  and  Omar;  but  he  declined,  saying  that  he 
should  follow,  first,  the  Koran,  secondly,  the  posi- 
tive laws  of  Mohammed,  and,  where  these  failed, 
his  own  judgment.  Both  of  the  former  kalifs  had 
been  directed  by  Ali's  exposition  of  the  law  and 
interpretation  of  the  traditions.  The  strife  resulted 
accordingly  in  the  election  of  Othman,  himself  one 
of  the  commission,  who  readily  agreed  to  govern  in 
accordance  with  the  Koran  and  the  example  of  the 
kalifs  who  had  gone  before. 

As  differing  from  him  in  fundamental  views,  and 
as  a  great-grandson  of  Omia,  Othman  was  highly 
displeasing  to  Ali,  who  belonged,  as  we  know,  to 
the  Hashimites  ;  and  the  dissensions  engendered  at 
the  moment  still  endure,  though  they  have  lost 
some  of  their  bitterness.  Islam  is  to-day  divided 
into   two   principal    sects :    the    Sonnites  or  Tradi- 


€EI^EALOGICAl  InVE   OF  TlIE  KALIFS.        265 


O  ifi 


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"1^  PAVOktTiSM  AND  INTktGUE. 

tionists,  who  acknowledge  the  first  four  kaHfs  to 
have  been  legitimate  successors  of  Mohammed  ;  and 
the  Shias,  or  Followers  (sometimes  called  Sectaries, 
who  deem  Ali  the  first  rightful  Imam,  for  they  pre- 
fer this  title  (found  in  sura  ii.,  verse  Ii8)  to  that  of 
kalif.  The  Shias  count  twelve  Imams,  the  last  of 
whom,  Mohammed  al  Mehdi  (a.D.  873),  they  sup- 
pose to  be  still  living  in  retirement,  ready  to  appear 
as  the  Mahdi  prophesied  to  reunite  Islam  in  the  last 
days.  In  general  terms,  the  Persians  are  Shias  and 
the  Turks  Sonnites. 

Othman  differed  in  character  from  his  prede^ 
cessors  ;  he  was  fond  of  wealth,  though  he  had  used 
his  riches  at  a  time  of  dearth  in  distributing  pro- 
visions among  the  people,  and  had  thereby  won 
their  affection  ;  he  was  narrow  and  weak ;  he  prac- 
tised nepotism,  though  the  kinsmen  whom  he.  ad- 
vanced had  been  inveterate  opponents  of  Islam  ;  and 
he  lacked  the  important  faculty  of  conciliating  his 
subjects  and  of  encouraging  unity  among  them.  It 
was  unfortunate  for  him  that  besides  the  jealousy, 
which  was  now  intensified  between  the  rival  famiHes, 
there  was  also  a  growing  antagonism  between  the 
nation  at  large  and  the  Koreishites.  This  spirit 
found  a  congenial  soil  at  Bassora  and  Kufa,  where 
the  inhabitants  were  rapidly  realizing  that  they  had 
power  and  influence  which  they  might  use  for  their 
own  purposes  against  the  kalif  even,  if  he  should 
oppose  himself  to  their  desires.  Omar  had  kept 
down  dissensions  at  home  by  waging  wars  abroad, 
and  Othman  did  the  same. 

One  of  the  early  mistakes  of  Othman  lost  Alex- 


REBELLIONS  IN  PERSIA.  267 

andria  to  the  kalifate.  He  gave  the  prefecture  of 
Egypt  to  a  near  relative,  and  the  emperor  of  Con- 
stantinople sent  a  fleet  against  Alexandria,  which 
wrested  it  from  him  (a.d.  646).  Amr  was  reinstated 
in  authority,  and,  after  a  long  siege,  he  took  the  city 
by  storm,  gave  it  up  to  plunder,  razed  its  walls,  and 
deprived  it  of  all  its  former  importance.  Fostat 
gained  what  Alexandria  lost. 

The  Persians,  who  had  been  scattered  by  the 
armies  of  Omar,  did  not  remain  quiet,  and  risings 
and  rebellions  were  frequent  throughout  Irak  Ajemi, 
many  expeditions  being  sent  to  quell  them  ;  and  to 
these  Kufa  and  Bassora  contributed  largely.  These 
were  not  always  successful,  but  they  carried  the  fame 
and  the  name  of  the  Saracens  throughout  the  vast 
regions  watered  by  the  Indus  and  the  Oxus,  made 
them  familiar  in  Korassan,  Kabul,  and  Turkestan,  and 
on  the  borders  of  the  Caspian  Sea.  On  the  western 
shore  of  the  Caspian  there  was  trouble  (653  A.D.) 
with  the  Turks,  in  which  the  Arabians  were  beaten, 
and  Othman  sent  reinforcements  from  Syria  to  assist 
an  army  from  Kufa,  but  the  Syrians  objected  to 
serving  under  the  Kufan  captain,  and  the  breach 
was  begun  which  led  to  long-continued  strife  in  the 
future. 

Before  this  an  army  had  been  sent  into  Asia  Minor 
which  penetrated  Armenia,  ventured  nearly  to  the 
Caspian  from  the  southwest,  and  then  marched  as 
far  north  as  the  Black  Sea.  The  Moslems  were 
meantime  confirming  their  position  in  Egypt,  and 
pushing  their  conquests  along  the  Mediterranean 
coast  almost  to  Carthage.     Though  Omar  had  op- 


268  FAVORITISM  AND  INTRIGUE. 

posed  operations  at  sea,  Othman  permitted  them, 
and,  in  649,  a  naval  force  made  a  successful  attack 
upon  Cyprus,  which  became  tributary,  and  a  large 
number  of  captives  were  carried  from  the  island. 
Three  years  after  this  a  fleet  of  several  hundred 
Byzantine  vessels  defied  the  Arabs  off  Alexandria  ; 
the  opposing  ships  grappled,  but  after  a  desperate 
hand-to-hand  struggle  the  Romans  sailed  away  to 
Syracuse,  beaten  by  the  Saracens,  with  great  slaugh- 
ter. It  was  "a  splendid  victory,"  but,  either  because 
it  was  not  followed  up,  or  for  some  other  reason,  it 
resulted  in  dissatisfaction  with  the  kalif  and  in  open 
threats  against  him. 

Othman  was  unhappy  in  his  choice  of  governors 
at  Kufa  and  Bassora,  among  whom  were  some  of  his 
own  relatives,  and  the  disaffection  towards  him  con- 
stantly increased  ;  large  numbers  of  the  Koreishites 
emigrated  thither  also,  and  certain  concessions  made 
to  them,  added  to  their  own  pretentions,  tended  to 
increase  the  jealousy  and  unfriendliness.  Othman 
was  no  less  unfortunate  in  Arabia  ;  he  enlarged  and 
beautified  the  grand  square  of  Kaaba,  but  even  in 
this  pious  work  managed  to  give  offence  ;  he  re- 
buked a  growing  fondness  for  gambling  and  other 
forbidden  pastimes,  and  made  still  more  enemies  ; 
he  prescribed  changes  in  the  ceremonial  connected 
with  the  pilgrimage  and  created  scandal,  for  he  thus 
overturned  some  of  the  precedents  that  had  been 
established  by  the  prophet.  He  had  this  faculty 
for  making  enemies,  but  not  for  winning  friends; 
and  to  all  his  real  and  imagined  offences  he  added 
one  against  the  superstitious  feelings  of  the  people. 


MOHAMMED'S   SIGNET  LOST.  269 

He  was  one  day  superintending  the  deepening  of  a 
well,  distant  some  two  miles  from  Medina,  when  he 
had  occasion  to  point  towards  the  workmen,  and  the 
ring  of  Mohammed,  which,  following  the  example 
of  Abu  Bekr  and  Omar,  he  wore,  fell  from  his  finger 
and  disappeared.  In  vain  were  large  sums  offered 
for  the  recovery  of  the  sacred  relic  ;  in  vain  was  the 
water  drawn  out  ;  in  vain  were  the  mud  and  sand 
searched  ;  the  ring  was  gone  beyond  recovery.  The 
kalif  was  saddened,  for  he  believed  that  the  circum- 
stance was  portentous  of  evil,  and  probably  he  had 
reason. 

Not  only  was  Othman  lacking  in  discernment  in 
making  choice  of  governors  for  the  colonies  on  the 
Euphrates,  but  his  representatives  there  seemed  to 
share  his  faculty  for  unpopularity,  or  to  have  special 
fondness  for  stirring  up  ill  feeling  among  the  sub- 
jects. When  factious  spirit  showed  itself  in  actual 
rebellion,  he  failed  to  act  with  decision  and 
force,  and  thus  wounds  were  left  that  rankled  long 
after  they  should  have  healed.  AH  remonstrated 
with  him  for  dealing  softly  with  offenders  because 
they  were  his  kinsmen,  and  probably  he  was  right  : 
but  the  kalif  appealed  to  the  people,  and  in  doing 
it  only  roused  their  ill  feelings  more. 

The  entire  kaiifate  was  soon  undermined  with  secret 
conspiracy  ;  and  Othman,  in  his  helplessness,  sent 
men  to  Egypt,  to  Kufa,  to  Bassora,  and  to  Damas- 
cus to  find  out  and  report  to  him  the  state  of  affairs. 
He  learned  nothing  satisfactory  from  these,  of  course, 
and  he  then  issued  an  edict  to  the  provinces  calling 
the  governors  together  at  the  time  of  pilgrimage  in 


270  FAVORITISM  AND  INTRIGUE. 

the  year  655.  These  officials  came  to  Medina,  but 
they  could  give  no  information,  for  the  plotters  were 
everywhere  working  in  the  dark.  Othman  was  more 
bewildered  than  before.  There  was  treason  in  the 
air,  and  the  hand  of  the  law  could  not  be  placed 
upon  it. 

In  the  spring  and  summer  of  656,  the  scheme  of 
the  conspirators  was  brought  to  a  climax  ;  they  had 
determined  to  come  in  force  from  Egypt  and  Meso- 
potamia in  the  guise  of  pilgrims  ;  to  present  long 
lists  of  grievances  ;  to  demand  redress  ;  and  If  the 
objectionable  governors  could  not  be  removed,  to 
call  for  the  abdication  of  Othman  himself,  enforcing 
It  If  necessary  at  the  point  of  the  sword.  When 
they  reached  Medina  they  were  disconcerted  to  find 
that  the  citizens  would  not  unite  with  them,  and  as 
the  kalif  consented  to  make  some  changes,  they  re- 
tired towards  their  homes,  In  pretended  satisfaction, 
and  peace  settled  down  upon  Medina. 

Three  days  later,  Othman  was  disturbed  while 
leading  prayers,  by  the  startling  news  that  the  three 
factious  bands  were  again  at  the  gates.  AH  went 
forth  to  ask  the  reason  of  their  return,  and  they 
exhibited  an  order  from  the  kalif,  confirmed  by 
his  seal,  directing  that  they  should  be  punished 
with  vigor.  Othman  disclaimed  all  knowledge  of 
the  document,  and  it  is  still  disputed  whether  it  was 
a  forgery  or  not  ;  but  It  gave  the  conspirators  an  op- 
portunity to  demand  the  kalif's  abdication,  and  also 
enabled  them  to  remain  In  the  city.  They  insulted 
Othman  In  his  pulpit  ;  they  drove  the  men  of  Medina 
from  the  mosque  and  kept  them  out  ;  they  shut  the 


MURDER  OF  OTHMAN. 


271 


kalif  up  in  his  palace,  and  caused  him  great  distress  ; 
finally,  fearing  that  he  might  obtain  relief  from  the 
colonies,  on  the  17th  of  June  they  stormed  the  pal- 
ace, seized  him  by  his  beard  as  he  sat  in  the 
apartment  of  the  women,  with  the  Koran  open  on 
his  knees,  and  smote  him  with  their  swords.  Deeply 
wounded,  he  fell,  pressing  the  leaves  of  the  sacred 
book  to  his  bosom  and  staining  them  with  his  ebb- 
ing life-blood.  After  a  scene  of  frightful  riot,  the 
insurgents  suddenly  rushed  from  the  palace,  crying : 
"  To  the  Treasury  !  "  The  palace  gates  were  barred  ; 
the  mutilated  body  of  the  kalif  w^as  buried  at  dusk  ; 
the  rebels  pelting  the  bier  the  while  with  stones  ; 
and  anarchy  reigned  at  Medina. 


XXX. 

THE    MISFORTUNES    OF   ALT,    FATHER   OF   HASAN. 

The  outlook  for  the  kalifate  was  now  far  from 
promising.  We  remember  that  at  the  death  of  the 
prophet  there  had  been  the  anxious  inquiry,  on  the 
part  of  many  of  the  allied  tribes,  ''  Can  the  yoke  be 
thrown  off?"  Abu  Bekr  had  died  in  his  bed,  but 
Omar  and  Othman  had  lost  their  lives  by  the  assas- 
sin's knife  ;  and  now  no  one  was  found  willing  to 
accept  the  once  coveted  office.  The  conspirators 
who  had  come  from  Egypt,  from  Kufa,  and  from 
Bassora,  indicated  the  feeling  of  dissatisfaction  in 
those  distant  portions  of  the  kalifate,  and  each 
of  them  now  brought  forward  a  different  candidate 
for  the  chief  office. 

The  Egyptians  favored  AH,  who  represented  the 
direct  line  of  descent,  for  his  offspring  were  grand- 
children of  the  prophet  ;  Kufa  presented  the  name 
of  Zobeir,  a  convert  of  Abu  Bekr  in  the  day  of  small 
things,  who  had  been  of  the  Abyssinian  emigrants, 
had  fought  under  the  prophet,  had  been  one  of  the 
electoral  commission  appointed  by  Omar,  and  had 
married  one  of  his  widows  ;  and  Bassora  nominated 
Talha,  likewise  a  convert  of  Abu  Bekr,  who  had 
been  trusted  by  Mohammed,  and  appointed  by  Omar 


ALI  BECOMES  KALIF.  273 

(who  was  his  brother-in-law)  one  of  the  electoral 
council. 

Immediately  upon  the  death  of  Othman,  the 
Egyptians  and  the  men  of  Medina  offered  to  swear 
allegiance  to  Ali,  but  he  was  not  willing  to  risk  the 
anger  of  the  partisans  of  the  other  candidates. 
He  urged  them  to  wait  until  there  had  been  time  for 
deliberation,  and  said  that  though  he  had  once 
desired  the  office,  he  now  thought  that  the  most 
comfortable  position  in  life  was  that  farthest  removed 
from  power,  and  that  he  was  ready  to  submit  to 
whoever  might  be  lawfully  proclaimed.  The  same 
advances  were  made  to  both  Zobeir  and  Talha,  with 
similar  results.  The  men  of  Medina  urged  Ali  again 
and  again,  but  to  no  purpose;  the  crowd  called  now 
upon  one  and  now  upon  another ;  they  bewailed  the 
want  of  a  chief ;  they  prophesied  civil  war  if  the 
strangers  then  at  Medina  should  return  to  their 
provinces  and  announce  that  no  kalif  had  been 
proclaimed. 

At  last  Ali  was  moved  by  the  pathetic  demands 
of  the  people  and  consented  to  go  to  the  mosque 
and  receive  their  allegiance.  There  Talha  and  Zobeir 
offered  him  their  hands  in  token  of  approbation,  and 
there  the  Companions  of  the  prophet  and  the  other 
chiefs  did  the  same.  This  appearance  of  peace  was 
deceptive  ;  and  it  soon  becamxC  evident  that  Ali  was 
expected  to  reward  with  offices  those  who  supported 
him,  or  else  become  the  target  for  their  vengeance. 
Some  asked  that  the  murderers  of  Othman  should 
be  punished,  but  Ali  thought  best  to  postpone  such 
an  attempt,  inasmuch  as  considerable  numbers  would 


274  THE  MISFORTUNES  OF  ALL 

be  involved,  and  he  did  not  feel  strong  enough  to  cope 
with  such  a  party. 

Among  the  claimants  for  office  the  loudest  were 
Talha  and  Zobeir,  who  demanded  to  be  made  gov- 
ernors of  Kufa  and  Bassora,  respectively  ;  but  though 
AH  had  resolved  to  remove  all  the  governors  ap- 
pointed by  his  predecessor,  he  declined  their  demand, 
saying  that  they  were  his  wisest  counsellors  and  he 
needed  them  near  him  at  Medina.  Ayesha,  who  was 
equally  opposed  to  Ali  and  to  Othman,  united  with 
Talha  and  Zobeir  to  breed  dissatisfaction  with  all  his 
acts,  and  each  of  the  intriguing  trio  made  use  of  the 
friends  of  the  late  kalif  to  stir  up  malice  against  his 
successor.  The  blood-stained  garment  of  Othman 
was  carried  to  Syria  and  there  ostentatiously  dis- 
played by  Moawia  to  create  enmity  against  Ali,  and 
clamorous  cries  were  made  for  vengeance  upon  the 
murderers,  all  of  which  were  hypocritically  re-echoed 
by  Ayesha,  Talha,  and  Zobeir,  the  real  instigators 
of  his  murder.  The  condition  of  affairs  was  indeed 
involved  and  desperate,  and  Ali  was  not  the  man  for 
the  moment. 

Thus  for  a  time  Mecca  became  the  centre  of  the 
intrigue.  There  Talha,  Zobeir,  and  Ayesha  formed 
a  faction  determined  upon  war,  calling  to  it  all  mal- 
'^  contents,  especially  the  members  of  the  family  of 
Omia,  to  which  Othman  had  belonged.  A  proc- 
lamation was  issued,  declaring  that  the  Mother 
of  the  Faithful  was  about  to  go  to  Bassora  with 
Talha  and  Zobeir,  and  calling  upon  all  who  desired 
to  strengthen  Islam,  were  ready  to  fight,  and  wished 
to  revenge  the  death  of  Othman,  to  join  the  standard 


ALT  PURSUES  A  YESHA.  275 

of  revolt.  Under  the  lead  of  Ayesha,  a  force  of  a 
thousand  mounted  on  camels  started  out,  and  the 
number  was  soon  swelled  to  three  times  that  num- 
ber.* When  Bassora  was  reached  the  governor  was 
called  upon  to  surrender,  and  after  but  slight  resist- 
ance he  was  overpowered,  his  beard  and  eyebrows 
were  torn  out  by  the  roots,  and  he  was  dismissed. 

The  news  of  this  reverse  was  carried  to  Medina, 
where  Ali,  entering  the  mosque  with  hearty  thanks 
to  Allah,  announced  that  war  was  upon  the  nation 
and  called  for  volunteers.  The  parties  were  pretty 
evenly  balanced  in  the  city,  and  there  was  no  alacrity 
in  coming  forward  to  the  help  of  the  kalif,  despite 
the  fact  that  he  was  beloved  and  was  believed  to 
have  been  fairly  elected,  and  though  his  eloquence 
was  the  greatest  of  all  the  sons  of  Arabia.  The  tide 
turned,  however,  and  Ali  unexpectedly  found  himself 
at  the  head  of  a  thousand  earnest  men,  who  marched 
out  of  the  city  with  hopes  of  overtaking  Ayesha  and 
her  company.  This  was  soon  proved  impossible,  and 
a  halt  was  njade  for  consultation.  It  was  decided  to 
send  an  appeal  to  Kufa — not  for  aid  in  war,  but  for 
mediation  between  Ali  and  the  separatists,  for  All 
was  convinced  by  assurances  that  had  been  sent  to 
*  Efforts  were  made  to  induce  Omm  Selma,  another  widow  of  the 
prophet,  to  join  this  revolt,  but  she  would  not,  and  endeavored  to 
restrain  the  conspirators  from  precipitating  civil  war.  Ayesha  was 
troubled  by  superstitious  qualms  on  the  journey,  but  they  were  over- 
come by  deceit,  and  the  first  falsehood  recorded  in  the  annals  of 
Islam  was  invented  to  urge  her  forward  to  ruin.  The  women 
of  Mecca  accompanied  Ayesha  a  short  distance,  and  as  they  separated 
from  her,  wept  over  the  fortunes  of  the  faith.  "  The  Day  of  Tears  " 
is  remarkable  for  weeping  such  as  never  had  been  known  before  nor 
has  been  since,  according  to  the  Moslem  writers. 


2^6  THE   MISFORTUNES  OF  ALT 

him  that  many  of  the  citizens  of  Kufa  were  ready 
to  take  his  part 

AH  wrote  letters  also  to  Medina  and  received  gen- 
erous contributions  of  horses,  arms,  and  necessaries 
of  life.  He  sent  likewise  to  Egypt  and  elsewhere 
for  assistance.  When  his  letter  reached  Kufa  it  did 
not  meet  the  reception  he  hoped  for ;  there  was 
reluctance  to  take  the  part  of  the  kalif  against  the 
rebels ;  but  it  was  finally  overcome  by  the  skill  of 
Hasan,  his  son,  and  at  last  a  body  of  nine  thou- 
sand men  marched  out  to  meet  the  kalif's  ap^ 
proaching  troops.  When  this  accession  was  received, 
Ali  felt  comfortable,  and  advancing  toward  them, 
said,  *'  O  men  of  Kufa !  may  ye  become  the  kibla 
of  Islam  and  the  centre  of  the  true  faith !  From 
the  times  of  Omar  ye  have  fought  manfully  to  carry 
the  religion  of  the  Moslem  farther  into  the  Orient ; 
now  I  appeal  to  you  for  help  against  opposing 
brethren  whom  I  wish  to  lead  back  to  their  allegiance. 
If  they  listen  to  me,  I  will  receive  them,  and  pardon 
the  past ;  if  they  refuse,  we  shall  wait  ;  if -tthey  attack 
us,  we  shall  pray  Allah  to  deliver  them  into  our 
hands.  We  seek  peace  by  every  means.'*  Ali  had 
before  this  assured  the  Kufans  that  he  preferred 
them  to  all  others  and  intended  to  make  his  home 
among  them. 

We  now  approach  one  more  scene  of  carnage  nota- 
ble even  among  those  that  mark  the  track  of  Islam 
with  a  gory  trail.  The  several  combatants  entered 
upon  the  struggle  with  quite  different  motives  and 
feelings  ;  Zobeir,  having  brought  to  his  mind  the 
early  affection  that  he  had  enjoyed  in   the  lifetime 


THE  DA  V  OF   THE    CAMEL.  2yy 

of  the  prophet,  wished  to  make  peace ;  and  Talha 
acknowledged  the  wrongfulness  of  their  cause,  but 
Ayesha,  remembering  how  Ali  had  made  reflections 
upon  her  at  the  time  she  was  under  suspicion  by  the 
prophet, — and  the  remembrance  was  at  the  bottom 
of  all  her  enmity  to  him, — was  determined  not  to 
allow  moderation  or  patriotism  to  restrain  in  any 
degree  her  vindictive  spirit.     War  there  must  be. 

The  armies  lay  opposite  to  each  other  at  a  place 
called  Kariba,  not  far  from  Bassora,  neither  willing 
to  join  battle ;  Ali  because  he  was  ever  averse  to 
shedding  Moslem  blood,  and  the  separatists  because 
though  their  forces  numbered  more  than  those  of 
the  kalif,  they  were  not  inspired  with  the  same  im- 
petuous enthusiasm  nor  controlled  by  the  same  mili- 
tary skill,  and  because,  besides,  there  was  division 
among  the  leaders. 

When  the  sun  rose  on  the  winter  morning  (it  was 
in  November  or  December,  656,),  the  battle  began, 
though  no  one  knew  exactly  how  ;  and  Ayesha  was 
seen  going  up  and  down  the  field  on  a  camel  pro- 
tected by  an  iron  cage,  while  the  contest  ever  raged 
fiercest  about  her.  Talha  soon  received  his  mortal 
wound,  and  died  vainly  endeavoring  to  undo  his 
mistake  by  renewing  allegiance  to  Ali ;  later,  Zobeir 
was  decapitated  while  in  the  act  of  enforced  prayer ; 
and  the  widow  of  the  prophet  found  her  litter  stuck 
so  full  of  arrows  and  javelins  that  it  looked  like  a 
porcupine,  and  her  camel  itself  was  wounded  so  that 
it  could  no  longer  carry  her.  This  was  called  the 
Day  of  the  Camel. 

Victory  complete  perched   upon   the   kahf's  ban- 


2/8  THE  MISFORTUNES   OF  ALL 

ners,  and  his  prestige  and  power  were  immensely  in- 
creased. He  treated  Ayesha  with  courtesy,  sending 
her  under  escort  of  a  retinue  of  women  to  Medina, 
where  she  was  forbidden  to  leave  her  house  or  to  in- 
termeddle more  in  the  affairs  of  state.  Leaving  a 
governor  at  Bassora,  Ali  established  the  seat  of  his 
kalifate  at  Kufa,  and  governed  Persia,  Mesopotamia, 
Egypt,  Arabia,  and  Korassan, — all  that  rightfully  be- 
longed to  his  dominions  except  Syria,  about  which, 
however,  he  had  but  little  solicitude  when  he  contem- 
plated his  present  success. 

In  his  complacency  Ali  was  fatally  mistaken,  for 
the  governor  of  Syria  was  a  man  in  the  prime  of 
active  manhood,  possessing,  as  some  one  has  said, 
the  courage,  eloquence,  and  affability  of  Julius  Cae- 
sar, the  ambition,  facility,  and  tardy  clemency  of 
Augustus,  and  the  policy,  dissimulation,  and  cruelty 
of  Tiberius.  Descended  from  Omia,  son  of  the 
archenemy  of  Mohammed,  Abu  Sofian  ;  born  the 
year  that  the  prophet  sought  refuge  in  the  Cave, 
Moawia,  had  long  before  become  a  convert  to  Islam, 
and  had  fought  valiantly  in  its  wars.  In  651,  he  had 
been  governor  of  Cyprus,  which  he  had  lost  and  re- 
gained ;  the  same  year  he  had  taken  Rhodes,  destroy- 
ing the  celebrated  Colossus,  as  doubtful  tradition 
asserts,  and  selling  its  brass  to  a  Jew  ;  he  had  swept 
the  eastern  Mediterranean,  overthrowing  the  navy  of 
Rome  and  making  the  name  of  the  Arabian  feared 
everywhere  on  the  sea.  Appointed  governor  of 
Syria,  by  Omar,  and  continued  in  authority  by  0th- 
man,  he  had  laid  the  foundation  for  vast  personal 
power  throug^hout  that  regfion.     To  increase  this  he 


THE   STRUGGLE   AT  SIFFIN.  2Jg 

had  stirred  up  a  terrible  hate  at  the  time  of  the  mur- 
der of  Othman,  by  setting  up  on  the  pulpit  at  Da- 
mascus as  a  standard  the  bloody  garment  of  the 
murdered  Commander  of  the  Faithful,  and  calling 
upon  his  subjects  to  rally  to  extirpate  all  the  men 
who  had  been  engaged  in  the  detestable  deed.  It 
was  said  that  fifty  thousand  men*  whose  cheeks  and 
beards  were  never  dry  from  tears,  and  whose  eyes  had 
never  ceased  weeping  blood,  had  drawn  their  swords 
with  a  solemn  oath  to  give  themselves  no  rest,  and 
to  bequeath  their  determination  to  their  children's 
children,  until  the  blood  of  the  kalif  should  be  avenged. 

Such  was  the  man  and  such  were  the  soldiers  that 
Ali  was  now  destined  to  confront  in  desperate  war- 
fare ;  but,  with  all  his  advantages,  Moawia  was  not 
willing  to  enter  upon  the  struggle  without  the  as- 
sistance which  he  hoped  to  obtain  from  that  Amr 
who  in  the  days  of  Omar  had  so  valiantly  fought  in 
Egypt.  It  happened  that  this  hero,  who  had  been 
removed  from  office  by  Othman,  was  at  the  time 
living  quietly  in  Palestine,  and  he  now  readily  ac- 
knowledged Moawia  to  be  the  rightful  kalif  and 
agreed  to  take  part  with  him,  provided  he  might 
himself  have  the  rule  of  Egypt  again  in  case  of  their 
success.  By  such  means,  an  army  of  some  eighty 
thousand  men  was  gathered  to  menace  Ali,  who, 
however,  brought  against  it,  from  Kufa,  ninety 
thousand,  and  marching  toward  the  confines  of 
Syria,  came  in  sight  of  his  opponents  at  a  place 
called  Siffin,  on  the  Euphrates,  north  of  Palmyra, 
not  far  from  the  northern  limits  of  Mesopotamia. 

*Tabari  makes  the  number  30,000, — "Chronicles,  "pt.  iv.,  ch.  xcviii. 


28o 


THE   MISFORTUNES  OF  ALT. 


The  two  armies  met  in  the  summer  of  657  a.D. 
A  month  was  occupied  in  consequent  efforts  at  con- 
ciHation,  and  then  for  three  months  and  more  there 
were  equally  indecisive  skirmishes,  in  which  thou- 
sands perished  on  both  sides,  each  of  the  combatants 
professing  a  wish  to  avoid  the  shedding  of  Moslem 
blood.     The    deadly  struggle   was    inevitable,   how 


A   YOUNG   SYRIAN    GIRL. 


ever,  and  when  the  bravest  of  both  armies  were 
biting  the  dust,  and  heads  of  the  warriors  were  roll- 
ing about  the  field  like  tennis  balls,  as  the  chronicles 
say,  when  streams  of  blood  polluted  the  earth  in 
every  direction,  and  the  Syrians  were  falling  before 
their  opponents,  Amr  sent  for  Moawia  in  great  haste, 
and    ordered   him  to    cause  his    men  to  thrust  the 


THE  KAREJITES  OPPOSE  ALL  28 1 

Koran  at  their  enemies  on  the  points  of  their  lances, 
crying  :  "  This  is  the  book  o  Al!.ih  •  this  it  is  that 
should  decide  differences  between  Moslems  ;  if  the 
inhabitants  of  Syria  and  Irak  are  exterminated,  who 
then  will  profess  Islam  ?  "  The  ruse  had  the  desired 
effect ;  the  followers  of  Ali  replied  that  they  will- 
ingly acknowledged  the  Koran  ;  and  in  spite  of  the 
extorts  of  the  kalif  to  continue  the  struggle,  which  he 
saw  was  destined  to  end  in  his  favor,  the  glorious 
victory  was  snatched  from  him,  and  it  was  agreed  to 
submit  the  claims  of  the  rivals  to  the  arbitration  of 
two  chosen  men.  Moawia  then  retired  to  Damascus 
and  the  kalif  to  Kufa. 

It  happened  that  the  representative  of  Ali  in  this 
arbitration  was  a  well-meaning  but  simple-minded 
person,  while  that  of  Moawia  was  no  less  than  the 
strong  and  ready  Amr,  everywhere  acknowledged  to 
be  the  most  quickwitted  man  of  the  age.  The  two 
met  at  Kufa  eight  months  later,  and  by  another,  but 
rather  transparent  ruse,  Amr  managed  to  throw  the 
decision  in  favor  of  Moawia.  The  arbitration  deter- 
mined nothing,  and  the  parties  became  more  and 
more  intense  in  their  animosity,  excommunicating 
each  other  with  great  freedom  and  constancy.  Mean- 
time, an  insurrection  was  stirred  up  against  Ali  by 
certain  Karejites,*  who  denounced  him  for  submitting 
to  the  arbitration  of  men  a  matter  which  Allah  only 

*  Karejite  meant  "  one  who  goes  forth,"  a  radical  reformer,  a 
"  come-outer,"  as  Theodore  Parker  used  that  expressive  word.  The 
Karejites  sought  to  establish  a  theocracy,  and  declared  that  a  just  and 
pious  man,  of  whatever  tribe  or  nation,  might  be  called  to  the  kalif- 
ate,  though  they  did  think  a  kalif  at  all  essential  to  the  state.  They 
numbered  twelve  thousand  at  this  time, 


282  THE   MISFORTUNES  OF  ALL 

should  have  decided.  The  insurgents  collected  at  a 
place  called  Nehrvvan,  not  far  from  the  site  of  the 
future  city  of  Bagdad,  east  of  the  Tigris,  and  there 
Ali  met  and  overcame  them  with  an  army  that  he 
had  prepared  to  march  against  Moawia  in  Syria  (a.D. 
658).  The  victory  won,  Ali  called  upon  his  army  to 
follow  him  to  Syria,  but  they  refused,  and  he  was 
obliged  to  allow  them  to  return  to  Kufa.  The 
remnants  of  the  Karejites  were  scattered  through- 
out the  Moslem  world.  They  were  called  also 
Motazilites,  *  and  as  such  still  exist,  a  vigorous  off- 
shoot of  the  Shias.  The  germs  of  the  sect  are 
traced  to  the  time  of  Mohammed,  but  the  real 
founder  was  Wasil  ben  Ata,  who,  in  the  reign  of 
Hashim,  protested  against  the  current  teachings  on 
the  subject  of  free-will  and  predestination.  He 
urged  his  views  impulsively  and  with  success  upon 
the  advanced  thinkers  of  Bassora,  whence  they  were 
carried  in  time  to  all  parts  of  the  Moslem  world. 

Syria  was  still  the  only  region  not  under  the  sway 
of  Ali,  though  trouble  was  rising  in  Egypt,  for 
Moawia  managed  to  compromise  All's  governor 
there  and  he  was  recalled,  Mohammed,  son  of  Abu 
Bekr,  being  placed  in  his  stead.  Moawia  stirred  up 
further  dissensions  ;  made  use  of  that  characteristic 
Eastern  weapon,  poison  ;  broke  up  All's  plans  gen- 
erally, and  made  the  way  clear  for  Amr  to  take  pos- 
session of  the  government,  which  he  did  with  all 
speed.  He  captured  Mohammed,  son  of  Abu  Bekr, 
and  burned  him  alive  in  the  skin  of  an  ass ;  an  act 

*  See  "  The  Personal  Law  of  the  Mohammedans,"  by  Seyed 
Ameer  Ali  (a  Motazjlite  himself).     Introduction,  pp.  6,  9,  10,  11,  etc. 


284  THE  MISFORTUNES  OF  ALT. 

which  aroused  the  wrath  of  his  sister  Ayesha,  who 
impotently  invoked  upon  both  Amr  and  Moawia  the 
direst  curses  of  Allah.  Moawia  meantime,  ceased 
not  to  make  incursions  into  the  domains  of  the 
kalif,  though  a  growing  opposition  to  continuing  the 
struggle  was  making  itself  felt  both  at  Damascus  and 
at  Kufa.  In  659,  Moawia  captured  Bassora,  which 
had  been  temporarily  left  with  a  weak  garrison,  but 
Ali  overcame  his  forces  in  turn,  and  the  city  resumed 
its  allegiance  to  him. 

The  misfortunes  of  Ali  were  increasing  constantly. 
The  year  after  the  capture  of  Bassora  was  fatal  for 
him.  He  became  despondent  as  he  contemplated 
the  distracted  state  of  his  dominions,  and  still  more 
so  when  in  the  year  660,  Moawia,  who  had  been 
secretly  corresponding  with  partisans  in  Mecca  and 
Medina,  sent  forces  against  those  cities,  which  after 
shedding  some  Moslem  blood,  forced  them  to  surren- 
der and  swear  allegiance  to  him.  Ali  at  Kufa,  and 
Moawia  at  Damascus,  were  now  both  striving  for 
the  mastery  of  Yemen.  Moawia  was  successful,  and 
several  thousands  of  the  citizens  of  that  "  happy  " 
region  were  put  to  the  sword.  Ali  in  desperation 
decided  upon  one  more  effort  against  his  powerful 
antagonist,  the  enemy  of  the  true  faith,  as  he  thought 
him.  All  the  time  the  kalif  at  Kufa  was  daily  offer- 
ing irayers  in  the  mosque  for  Moawia,  and  Moawia, 
at  Damascus,  was  careful  never  to  omit  the  names  of 
Ali  and  his  sons,  Hasan  and  Hosein,  when  he  led 
the  devotions  of  the  faithful  in  the  mosque  in  distant 
Damascus. 

In  the  year  660,  forty  years  after  the  emigration 


.A   DESPERATE   CONSPIRACY.  285 

of  the  prophet  from  Mecca,  three  desperate  zealots 
from  among  the  Karejites  met  to  discuss  the  dis- 
tracted condition  of  Islam.  They  looked  to  Egypt, 
and  there  was  Amr,  ambitious  and  determined ; 
they  turned  their  eyes  to  Damascus,  and  behold 
the  son  of  Abu  Sofian,  burning  with  ambition  and 
panting  for  vengeance  upon  the  kalif  whom  they 
themselves,  as  they  smarted  under  their  defeat  at 
Nehrwan,  looked  upon  as  ambitious  and  dangerous. 
They  were  three  narrow-minded  and  impracticable 
zealots;  they  did  not  have  the  power  of  building  up, 
but  only  of  breaking  down,  and  though  they  knew 
not  what  plan  to  lay  out  for  the  future,  and,  per- 
haps, cared  not  for  any,  felt  sure  that  for  the  mo- 
ment it  was  desirable  that  three  such  factors  in  the 
public  distraction  should  be  out  of  the  way.  As- 
sassination was  their  only  resort ;  they  knew  no  legal 
method  of  gaining  relief  (probably  there  was  none) ; 
and  upon  assassination  they  cheerfully  decided.  One 
agreed  to  rid  the  state  of  Ali ;  a  second  eagerly 
offered  to  be  responsible  for  Moawia's  death ;  and 
the  third  offered  to  journey  to  Egypt  to  make  way 
with  Amr.  The  seventeenth  of  the  holy  month 
Ramadan  was  chosen  for  the  work,  and  it  happened 
to  fall  on  Friday,  the  day  for  sacred  meeting  in  the 
mosques. 

When  the  day  and  the  moment  arrived,  not  one, 
but  three  poisoned  daggers  cut  their  way  to  Ali's 
heart ;  another  inflicted  a  severe  though  not  a  mor- 
tal wound  upon  Moawia  ;  but  the  one  intended  for 
Amr  missed  him,  because  his  place  in  the  mosque 
was  that  day  taken  by  another.     Amr  ordered  his 


286  THE  MISFORTUNES  OF  ALL 

would-be  murderer  to  immediate  death ;  Moawia*s 
assailant  was  condemned  to  such  mutilation  that  he 
did  not  survive  ;  Ali  the  compassionate,  ordered  that 
his  assassin  should  not  be  tortured,  but  kept  with 
care  until  the  result  of  his  wound  was  known.  Ac- 
counts vary  in  regard  to  his  ultimate  punishment, 
but  he  was  probably  executed,  for  in  three  days  Ali 
died. 

As  we  are  brought  to  the  sad  end  of  the  husband 
of  Fatima,  we  cannot  resist  the  impulse  to  stop  a 
moment  to  look  back  upon  his  career,  since  that  day, 
long  before,  when,  in  the  exuberance  of  youth,  he 
eagerly  asserted  his  wish  to  be  a  follower  of  Moham- 
med ;  and  to  reflect  upon  the  pertinacity  with  which 
he  held  to  the  purpose  that  seemed  at  the  time  but 
the  inspiration  of  the  moment.  We  remember  the 
assistance  he  rendered  Mohammed  at  the  time  of  the 
Hejra ;  his  valiant  deeds  in  the  battles  that  followed  ; 
his  allegiance  to  Abu  Bekr;  his  reluctance  to  assume 
the  kalifate  himself,  though  well  knowing  that  the 
honor  of  the  position  was  his  by  right,  as  the  person 
indicated  by  Mohammed ;  and  we  feel  that  his  life 
was  one  of  sadness  and  discomfiture.  He  was  a  man 
of  mild  and  forbearing  character,  cultivating  luxury 
and  pleasure,  and  preferring  compromise  and  pro- 
crastination to  energy  and  promptness.  His  wisdom 
in  counsel,  and  his  reputed  sagacity  in  framing  sen- 
tentious proverbs,  were  great,  though  he  was  not 
wise  enough  to  escape  the  doom  that  was  the  cer- 
tain result  of  a  policy  so  little  characterized  by 
strength  as  was  that  which  he  followed. 

Ali  never  bound  the  faithful  to  him,  and  though 


HASAN-  MADE  KALIF,  28/ 

at  a  later  period  he  was  glorified  with  almost  divine 
honors,  and  a  magnificent  tomb  was  erected  for  his 
remains,  his  grave  was  at  first  neglected,  and  the  in- 
difference in  which  he  was  held  during  life  followed 
him  long  after  death.  He  is  to  be  honored  as  the 
first  kalif  who  cultivated  letters,  and  a  body  of  wise 
sentences  bears-  his  name,  which  had  they  really 
emanated  from  him,  would  have  been  truly  credit- 
able to  his  mind  and  his  heart.  Many  ingenious  and 
entertaining  anecdotes  are  on  record  regarding  him, 
in  which  he  is  made  to  appear  in  a  most  favorable 
light ;  but  in  spite  of  all,  he  must  remain  for  us  an 
unfortunate  and  uncommendable  man. 

Ali  refused  to  name  his  successor  ;  but  the  choice 
of  his  followers  fell  naturally  upon  h  \  son  Hasan, 
and  he  immediately  took  up  the  duties  of  the  office. 
Even  less  inclined  to  a  military  career  than  his  father 
had  been,  he  entered  upon  the  still  impending  con- 
flict with  Moawia  with  an  irresolution  and  lack  of 
ability  that  made  him  an  easy  victim  of  his  oppo- 
nent's superior  shrewdness.  In  less  than  half  a  year 
he  had  resigned  all  claim  upon  the  kalifate,  and  Moa- 
wia became  Commander  of  all  the  Faithful.  Eight 
years  later,  Hasan  died  of  poison,  in  the  year  669, 
and  the  line  of  ''orthodox,  or  "rightly-directed"  ka- 
lifs,  elected  by  the  suffrages  of  the  Moslems,  ended. 


XXXI. 

THE   TRAGEDY    OF    MOHARREM. 

Mohammed  had  moved  from  the  Holy  City  to 
Medina ;  AH  had  taken  the  head-quarters  of  the 
kalifate  from  Medina  to  Kufa  ;  and  now  a  third  re- 
moval was  about  to  be  made.  When  Moawia  had 
established  himself  upon  the  throne  he  chose  Damas- 
cus as  his  capital,  and  founded  there  the  kalifate  of 
the  Omiades,  a  dynasty  that  was  to  continue  in 
power  for  almost  a  century.  Another  important 
change  was  made  at  the  same  time  ;  the  kalif  him- 
self was  no  longer  the  choice  of  the  body  of  the 
Faithful,  but  the  sceptre  was  to  be  transmitted  in  an 
hereditary  line. 

Thus,  during  this  dynasty,  the  relative  importance 
of  Arabia,  and  especially  of  the  two  capitals  of 
Hejaz,  which,  up  to  the  time  of  Ali,  had  been  chief 
among  cities,  rapidly  declined,  owing  both  to  the 
increase  of  the  empire  of  the  Saracens  and  to  the  re- 
moval of  the  capital  beyond  its  limits.  The  duty  of 
pilgrimage  Avas  indeed  observed,  and  is  still  observed 
in  our  own  day  ;  but  even  in  the  performance  of 
those  sacred  rites  the  rulers  visited  the  land  of  the 
desert  at  rare  intervals  only.  The  empire  of  the 
kalifs  was  destined  to    increase    still  more  ;  but  its 


MAUSOLEUM  OF  TAMERLANE  AT  SAMARKAND. 


290  THE   TkAGEDY  OF  MOHARREM. 

different  parts  were  to  have  less  and  less  a  united 
history,  and  finally  the  interest  that  attaches  to 
them  was  to  become  wellnigh  distinct  from  that 
with  which  we  look  upon  the  cradle  of  the  great 
social  and  religious  revolution  from  which  it  derived 
all  its  life  and  consequence. 

Though  Moawia  had  overcome  most  of  his  op- 
ponents, there  still  remained  one  of  the  most  power- 
ful of  them,  an  illegitimate  son  of  the  famous  Abu 
Sofian,  and  consequently  the  kalif's  own  half- 
brother,  a  warrior  named  Ziyad,  a  man  of  reputa- 
tion, of  resources,  and  of  some  following.  He  was 
at  this  time  fortified  in  a  stronghold,  and  Moawia 
knew  that  it  was  his  desire  to  see  a  member  of  the 
prophet's  family  placed  upon  his  throne.  Since  the 
Karejites  were  opposed  to  him,  it  was  of  the  utmost 
moment  that  Ziyad  should  be  brought  to  his  sup- 
port, and  accordingly,  he  resorted  to  the  remarkable 
expedient  of  owning  him  as  brother,  in  order  to  en- 
sure his  allegiance.  This  plan  was  successful ;  Ziyad 
was  secured  as  an  ally  ;  by  his  assistance  the  Kare- 
jites were  put  down  ;  and  Ziyad  was  in  turn  raised 
high  in  the  kalif's  esteem.  He  was  made  succes- 
sively governor  of  Bassora,  Kufa,  Korassan,  India, 
and  other  parts  :  all  of  which  he  ruled  with  such 
force  and  equity  that  good  order  was  established  ; 
and  then,  in  his  restlessness,  he  longed  for  other 
arenas  in  which  to  display  his  ability.  Moawia,  ever 
happy  to  favor  his  supporter,  gladly  offered  him  the 
governorship  of  Arabia  Petraea ;  but  as  Ziyad  was 
about  to  set  out  for  that  region  he  was  attacked  by 
gangrene   in   the  hand,   and   the   imperfect   medical 


ATTEMPT  ON  CONSTANTINOPLE.  ^gi 

skill  of  the  age  was  unable  to  afford  him  relief. 
He  died  at  the  age  of  fifty-four,  in  the  year  674  A.D. 

Moawia  hastened  to  show  his  appreciation  of 
Ziyad  by  appointing  his  son,  Obeidalla,  then  twenty- 
five  years  of  age,  governor  of  Kufa,  Bassora,  and 
Korassan,  and  the  young  man  soon  proved  that  he 
had  inherited  the  spirit  and  some  of  the  ability  of 
his  father.  He  invaded  Bokhara  and  conquered  it, 
bringing  to  Bassora  many  prisoners  and  much  booty; 
he  pushed  the  Turks  out  of  Korassan,  forcing  them 
to  flee  to  Samarkand,  that  venerable  centre  of 
Asiatic  commerce  and  learning,  famous  now  for  the 
tomb  of  the  great  Tamerlane,  conqueror  of  Persia, 
and  Korassan,  of  Delhi,  Damascus,  and  Bagdad. 

The  reign  of  Moawia  was  remarkable  for  two  great 
enterprises :  the  first  attempt  of  the  Saracens  to 
capture  Constantinople,  and  the  extension  of  the 
dominion  of  the  kalif  in  Northern  Africa.  His  de- 
sire to  found  an  hereditary  monarchy  led  to  the 
former  expedition,  for  he  wished  to  bring  his  son 
Yezid  forward  as  a  leader  among  men,  a  character 
that  the  youth's  love  of  luxury  and  pleasure  entirely 
unfitted  him  to  sustain.  The  design  of  Moawia  thus 
to  make  Yezid  his  successor  was  in  contravention  of 
an  arrangement  made  when  he  became  kalif,  to  the 
effect  that  upon  his  own  death  the  office  should  re- 
turn to  Hasan.  The  partiality  of  the  father  did  not 
permit  him  to  gauge  correctly  the  weakness  of  the 
son,  and  accordingly  a  vast  army  was  collected  and 
sent  towards  the  Byzantine  capital.  Like  the  Cru- 
sades, destined  in  a  future  age  to  be  waged  against  the 
Moslems  themselves,  this  was  considered  a  '*  holy  *' 


29^  TifE  Trace DY  of  MOHARREM. 

war,  and  it  had  the  prestige  of  being  a  fulfilment  of 
the  desire  of  the  prophet  himself,  who  had  hoped  that 
at  some  day  the  banner  of  Islam  would  wave  over 
the  capital  of  the  Caesars.  It  was  at  about  the  year 
670  or  672  that  the  expedition  started  for  its  distant 
destination  :  battered  soldiers  of  the  prophet's  wars; 
the  flower  of  Moslem  chivalry ;  the  young  Hosein, 
son  of  Ali ;  and  the  aged  Sofian  ;  Abu  Ayub,  who 
had  been  at  Bedr  and  at  Ohud  ; — all  rekindled  the 
fires  of  martial  enthusiasm  and  girded  on  the  sword 
to  win  victory  over  the  infidel,  or  paradise,  the  cer- 
tain reward  of  death  in  such  an  effort. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  no  details  of  this  great 
effort  have  been  preserved  ;  the  historian  Tabarr 
passes  over  it  without  mention  ;  and  we  only  know 
that  the  siege  was  long  and  the  bloodshedding  fright- 
ful. Tradition  asserted  that  Mohammed  had  prom- 
ised plenary  indulgence  to  all  who  should  be 
counted  in  the  first  army  to  take  the  capital  of  the 
Eastern  Empire,  and  under  such  an  incentive  every 
Moslem  dared  to  do  his  utmost.  The  fleet  reached 
a  point  seven  miles  distant  from  Constantinople 
without  difficulty,  but  so  great  had  been  the  prep- 
arations to  resist  the  invaders,  that  all  their  efforts 
against  it  were  vain  and  their  only  satisfaction  was 
found  in  ravaging  the  neighboring  coasts.  Greek 
fire,  a  buring  composition  discharged  from  tubes  in 
some  manner  not  now  understood,  was  at  this  time 
used  with  success  against  the  Moslem  fleet. 

The  ineffectual  contest  continued  year  after  year, 
the  attacking  forces  slowly  melting  away  the  mean- 
time, and  when   six  or  seven   years  had  been  thus 


REACHING   INTO   AFRICA.  293 

wasted,  it  was  decided  to  retreat,  one  portion  of  the 
forces  being  sent  by  sea  and  the  other  by  land. 
Each  was  alike  unfortunate ;  wind  and  waves  dis- 
persed and  broke  to  pieces  the  fleet,  and  the  gen- 
erals of  the  emperor  pursued  and  cut  up  the  demoral- 
ized land   army.     Wearied  and  feeling  the  approach 


ANCIENT    MOSQUE   OF  KAIRWAN. 

of  age,  Moawia  concluded  a  treaty  in  678,  by  which 
peace  was  assured  for  a  generation  by  the  annual 
payment  of  a  large  sum  of  gold  and  many  slaves,  be- 
sides fifty  horses  of  the  purest  Arabian  blood. 

Against  this  ill  success,  we  may  offset  the  exten- 
sion of  Moslem  power  in  Africa,  the  result  of  an  ex- 
pedition  undertaken,  as   some  assert,  at  the  request 


294  THE   TRAGEDY   OF  MOHARREM. 

of  Roman  inhabitants  of  that  region.  The  army  of 
the  kahf,  commanded  by  his  bravest  warriors,  made 
its  way  with  all  celerity  from  Syria  to  Alexandria, 
increasing  in  numbers  as  it  advanced,  and  thence  it 
progressed  into  the  deserts  to  the  west  of  Egypt. 
This  extensive  region  was  at  the  time  in  a  con- 
dition of  anarchy.  Its  conquest  was  committed  to 
Okba,  a  general  of  daring  bravery,  who  advanced 
towards  the  present  limits  of  Tunis.  At  a  spot  some 
one  hundred  miles  south  of  ancient  Carthage,  this 
conquerer  cleared  away  the  woods  and  founded  a  city 
often  referred  to  in  the  history  of  the  times,  known 
as  Kairwan,  intended  as  a  place  of  refuge.  The 
date  at  which  this  city  was  begun  is  variously  given, 
and  it  may  be  set  down  as  about  6^^  A.D.  From 
Kairwan  the  victorious  Okba  marched  as  far  as  the 
shores  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  beyond  Ceuta  and 
Tangier  (passing  through  the  regions  now  known  as 
Algiers  and  Morocco),  and  when  he  reached  that 
then  impassable  barrier  to  his  progress,  he  plunged 
his  steed  into  its  waters,  and  raising  his  glittering 
scimetar  aloft,  cried  out  in  the  name  of  Allah,  that 
if  the  deep  waters  had  not  hindered  him,  he  should 
have  carried  the  knowledge  of  the  law  and  a  rever- 
ence for  the  true  faith  to  still  more  distant  realms, 
slaying  all  who  bowed  to  other  gods,  after  the  fash- 
ion of  Julkarnein.*  While  he  was  uttering  these 
proud  words,  the  conquered  peoples,  Berbers  f  and 

*  The  reference  is  to  an  obscure  passage  in  sura  xviii.  Julkar- 
unn,  the  "  two-horned,"  is  interpreted  to  mean  Alexander  the  Great, 
king  of  the  East  and  the  West,  or  some  other  powerful  conqueror. 
See  Price's  "  History  of  Arabia,"  chapter  two. 

f  The  Berbers  were  an  African  people  of  unknown  antiquity,  who 
appear  in  hi  tory  as  Libyans,  Numidians,  and  Moors. 


THE   DEFEAT  AT    TEHUDA, 


295 


Others,  were  rising  in  the  rear  of  the  conqueror,  and 
he  found  it  necessary  to  hasten  towards  his  Eastern 
home;  but  it  was  too  late ;  the  enemy  surrounded 
his  army  in  a  pass  called  Tehuda,  and  after  a  terrible 
struggle  the  Saracens  were  defeated,  and  almost  an- 
nihilated. 

The  increasing  infirmities  of  Moawia  caused  him 


VIEW    OF   TUNIS. 


to  be  more  and  more  desirous  that  Yezid  might  be 
assured  of  the  succession  during  his  lifetime,  and  in 
the  year  678  he  called  the  inhabitants  of  Damascus 
together  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  his  son. 
He  had  asked  Ziyad  some  years  before  to  give  him 
advice  on  the  subject,  and  he  had  said  that  a  young 
man  so  completely  given  over  to  pleasures  was  not 
fit  to  be  Commander  of  the  Faithful.  In  conse- 
quence of  this  advice,  the  father  had  waited   until 


296  THE   TRAGEDY   OF  MOHARREM. 

three  years  after  the  death  of  Ziyad  before  taking 
the  step  he  desired,  and  in  the  meantime  Yezid 
had,  to  some  extent,  reformed  his  habits.  At 
least  four  persons  refused  to  take  the  oath  of 
allegiance  to  the  young  prince  :  Hosein,  son  of 
Ali ;  sons  of  Abbas,  of  Omar  and  of  Zobeir.  To 
these  a  son  of  Abu  Bekr  ought  perhaps  to  be 
added.  So  important  were  these  men  that  Moawia 
determined  to  make  a  personal  effort  to  induce  them 
to  change  their  determination.  They  all  lived  at 
Medina,  excepting  the  son  of  Abu  Bekr,  a  blind  man 
who  lived  at  Mecca.  To  Medina  accordingly  Moawia 
took  his  journey,  under  pretence  of  visiting  the  holy 
places.  Arrived  at  his  destination,  he  called  upon 
Hosein  to  take  the  oath,  and  he  declined  unless  the 
others  would  do  the  same.  Moawia  then  summoned 
the  others  to  him  separately,  and  each  made  the 
same  reply,  for  not  one  was  ready  to  take  the  lead. 
Disappointed  in  his  mission,  Moawia  proceeded  to 
perform  the  pilgrimage,  and  then  returned  to  his 
capital.  He  scandalized  the  faithful  by  making  an 
effort  to  remove  the  prophet's  walking-stick  and 
pulpit  to  Damascus,  but  was  obliged  to  give  up  that 
plan  also,  for  the  citizens  opposed  it,  and  an  eclipse 
of  the  sun  which  occurred  at  the  time  was  taken  as 
an  indication  of  Allah's  displeasure. 

The  end  of  the  kalif  was  now  rapidly  approach- 
ing, and  he  called  his  son  to  him  to  give  him  last 
counsels  regarding  the  conduct  of  government.  He 
told  him  to  trust  the  Arabs  as  the  foundation  of  his 
power,  to  prize  the  Syrians,  and  to  endeavor  to  keep 
the  turbulent  people  of  Irak  quiet  by  gratifying  their 


CHANGES  IN   THE   KALI  FATE.  297 

demands  ;  and  he  solemnly  warned  him  to  beware  of 
those  men  at  Medina  who  had  refused  to  swear 
allegiance  to  him.  Moawia  died  in  the  spring  of 
680,  and  was  buried  in  the  capital,  which  he  had 
made  a  place  of  great  luxury.  Under  him  the 
kalifate  had  entirely  lost  the  simplicity  of  the  early 
days,  and  the  change  of  scene  from  Mecca  and  Me- 
dina to  the  wealthy  city  of  the  north  was  followed 
by  a  complete  alteration  in  the  character  of  the 
kalifs  themselves. 

The  greatness  of  Moawia  had  been  established 
before  he  became  kalif,  and  nothing  that  he  accom- 
plished after  his  accession  would  have  been  sufficient 
to  give  him  the  reputation  that  the  chroniclers  award 
him.  The  fundamental  change  in  the  kalifate  that  he 
effected,  was  not  for  good  ;  he  added  to  the  extent  of 
the  kingdom,  but  the  increase  was  not  greatly  to  its 
advantage;  he  left  it  under  tribute  to  the  Byzantine 
empire,  which  must  have  been  intensely  offensive  to 
every  member  of  the  proud  tribe  of  Koreish  to  which 
he  belonged. 

Moawia  was  the  first  kalif  who  sat  when  he  spoke 
to  the  people  in  the  mosque  ;  he  was  munificent  in 
his  presents  to  his  favorites,  and  made  large  gifts 
to  Ayesha  and  Hasan  ;  he  encouraged  letters  and 
put  post-horses  upon  some  roads. 

The  change  in  affairs  is  still  more  emphasized  in 
the  reign  of  Yezid  than  it  had  been  in  that  of  his 
father.  He  was  not  present  when  Moawia  died,  but 
messengers  were  sent  to  recall  him  from  a  small 
town  in  the  territory  of  Homs  or  Emesa,  whither 
he  had  gone.     A  follower  of  the  kalif  ascended  the 


298  THE   TRAGEDY  OF  MOHARREM, 

pulpit  in  the  mosque,  bearing  Moawia's  winding, 
sheet  in  his  hand,  pronounced  an  eulogium  upon  him, 
and  said  the  burial  prayers  over  the  body  before  it 
was  committed  to  the  tomb.  Yezid  entered  upon  office 
quietly  and  without  the  formality  of  an  election,  but 
he  did  not  enjoy  the  throne  in  peace.  Hosein,  son  of 
Ali,  was  living,  though  Hasan  was  dead,  and  he 
laid  claim  to  the  office  of  kalif  with  some  right ; 
Abdalla,  son  of  Zobeir,  who  had  retired  to  Medina 
after  the  battle  of  the  Camel,  also  raised  the  stand- 
ard of  revolt,  and  thus  the  scene  of  action  during 
the  brief  reign  of  Yezid  was  for  a  portion  of  the 
time  transferred  again  to  Medina  and  Mecca. 

Upon  the  change  of  sovereigns,  the  people  of 
Kufa  turned  their  eyes  to  Hosein,  then  living  at 
Mecca,  and  sent  a  secret  messenger  to  him  to  say  : 
"  We  are  thy  followers,  as  we  were  thy  father's ;  we 
are  enemies  of  all  the  Omiades,  and  as  we  fought 
for  thy  father  against  Talha  and  Zobeir,  and  against 
the  Syrians  at  Siffin,  so  now  we  are  ready  to  take  up 
arms  for  thee.  Come  to  us  at  once  ;  we  will  put  the 
governor  out  of  the  way ;  we  will  deliver  the  city  to 
thy  hands,  and  we  will  swear  allegiance  to  thee. 
There  are  more  than  a  hundred  thousand  men  who 
are  ready  to  give  up  their  lives  in  thy  cause,  and  to 
fight  against  Yezid  as  they  have  fought  against  Moa- 
wia."  One  messenger  did  not  lead  Hosein  to  move  ; 
he  suspected  the  Kufans,  whose  fickleness  was  pro- 
verbial ;  but  another  and  another  came  to  him,  and 
at  last  a  poll  of  a  hundred  and  forty  thousand  names 
was  sent  across  the  desert.  Then  he  determined  to 
go.    More  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  letters  also  are 


VIEW   OF   THE   MOSQUE   OF    HASAN  AT    CAIRO. 


300  THE   TRAGEDY  OF  MOHARREM. 

said  to  have  been  sent  over  the  desert  to  Hosein 
before  he  yielded.*  In  one  of  these,  recited  in  the 
annual  celebration  of  the  event,  the  invitation  is 
couched  in  the  following  glowing  Oriental  phrases: 

O  solar  orb  of  the  sphere  of  faith,  although  the  country  of  Kufa 
is  a  tulip-field,  yet  without  the  rose  of  thy  face  all  are  but  thorns  in 
my  eyes.  The  blow  of  thy  separation  has  rendered  me  disabled,  and 
the  fire  of  thine  absence  has  set  my  weary  soul  in  flames.  Come 
quickly  to  Kufa,  for  all  the  people  of  the  country  earnestly  desire  to 
see  thee,  O  most  excellent  Imam  !  Have  the  condescension,  O 
Sphere  of  Generosity  !  to  move  hitherward  as  soon  as  possible,  that 
thou  mayest  afford  direction  in  the  paths  of  virtue  to  a  people  who 
are  cheerfully  expecting  thy  arrival ! 

The  extravagant  partisans  represented  that  the 
land  of  Kerbala,  from  end  to  end  a  beautiful  rose- 
garden  carpeted  with  tulips  and  lilies,  was  anxious 
for  his  coming  ;  that  the  very  Euphrates,  restless  as 
quicksilver,  was  longing  for  him,  and  that  the  entire 
region  had  worn  out  its  eyes  looking  for  him.f  It 
looked  like  rashness  to  his  friends  at  Mecca,  but  he 
listened  not  to  their  counsel ;  he  bundled  up  his  let- 
ters and  the  list  of  his  supposed  supporters,  and  set 
out  accompanied  by  his  wives,  his  brothers,  and  his 
children,  besides  forty  horsemen  and  a  hundred  foot- 
soldiers. 

Meantime  Noman,  governor  of  Kufa,  was  not  igno- 
■  rant  that  a  movement  was  on  foot  in  favor  of  the 
son  of  Ali.  He  called  the  people  together  and  ex- 
horted them  to  hold  to  their  allegiance,  assuring 
them  that  if  they  supported  Hosein,  he  would  surely 
fight  against  them  to  the  last.     The  news  was  car- 

*  See  Muir's  "  Early  Caliphate,"  p.  435. 

f  See  Felly's  "  Miracle  Play  of  Hasan  and  Husain,"  vol.  i.,  p.  216. 


HOSEIN'S  INFATUATION.  2>0l 

ried  to  Yezid,  of  course,  and  he  took  means  to  pre- 
pare for  the  coming  of  the  new  claimant.  He  sent 
messages  to  him,  warning  him  not  to  approach  Kufa. 
One  met  him  near  the  site  of  the  battle  of  Kadesia, 
but  it  did  not  cause  him  to  stop,  though  he  was  told 
plainly  by  friends  that,  even  if  the  hearts  of  Kufa 
were  with  him,  their  swords  were  against  him. 

It  was  the  beginning  of  the  month  Moharrem, 
when  Hosein  arrived  at  Kerbala,  some  twenty-five 
miles  north  of  Kufa  on  the  west  branch  of  the 
Euphrates,  where  his  little  band  was  confronted  by 
an  army  of  four  thousand  men.  Retreat  was  im- 
possible, and  there  was  no  alternative  but  death  ii\ 
battle.  He  had  already  fortified  himself  by  the 
Moslem  fatalism,  and  had  said,  when  he  left  Mecca, 
in  response  to  the  entreaties  of  his  friends,  *'  It  must 
be  as  Allah  wills  !  " 

A  friend  urgently  begged  permission  to  lead  him 
to  a  place  of  safety,  but  he  refused  the  offer ;  and 
when  desired  to  accept  an  escort  to  Kufa  that  had 
been  sent  by  order  of  Yezid,  he  also  declined  that  ; 
neither  would  he  agree  to  acknowledge  Yezid  as 
kalif.  He  offered  to  return  to  Arabia ;  to  go  to 
Damascus  and  negotiate  directly  with  Yezid,  or  even 
to  go  to  the  frontiers  of  Korassan  and  there  fight  for 
the  nation.  Neither  of  these  alternatives  were 
granted,  and  at  last,  as  delay  followed  delay,  Yezid 
became  impatient,  and  wrote  to  his  governor :  *'  If 
Hosein  and  his  followers  submit,  and  take  the  oath 
of  allegiance,  treat  them  kindly ;  if  they  refuse,  slay 
them,  ride  over  them,  trample  them  under  the  feet 
of  thy  horses!  "     The  messenger  who  bore  the  let- 


302  THE   TRAGEDY  OF  MOHARREM. 

ter  was  ordered  to  strike  off  the  governor's  head  if 
he  should  neglect  to  carry  out  its  instructions  with 
promptness. 

Before  this  Hosein  had  been  troubled  by  presenti- 
ments and  now  heavy  fancies  again  overcame  him  ; 
but  still  his  solicitude  was  rather  for  his  companions 
than  for  himself,  and  he  said  to  them  :  ''  These 
troops  seek  no  life  but  mine  ;  hasten  ye  to  a  place 
of  safety  and  leave  me  to  my  fate!"  Not  one  would 
stir  from  his  side.  Taking  a  camel,  he  rode  before 
the  reluctant  soldiers  of  Kufa,  reminding  them,  as  a 
body  and  individually,  of  the  invitations  that  had 
been  sent  him,  and  of  the  promises  that  they  had 
made  ;  but  it  was  to  no  purpose  ;  hope  vanished. 
Then,  with  tears  streaming  from  his  eyes,  he  em- 
braced each  member  of  the  '*  Family  of  the  Tent," 
as  his  devoted  followers  have  been  called,  saying  : 
"  May  Allah  recompense  you  !  "  They  responded  : 
"  May  peace  rest  upon  thee,  thou  son  of  the  apostle 
of  Allah  !  " 

The  morning  of  the  tenth  of  Moharrem  dawned  ; 
it  was  the  day  upon  which  it  was  supposed  that 
Allah  created  Adam  and  Eve  ;  the  battle  was  joined, 
but  it  was  a  slaughter  rather.  Thirty  of  the  troops 
of  Yezid  could  not  resist  the  appeal  of  Hosein,  and 
deserted  to  his  forlorn  hope  ;  but  nevertheless  the 
devoted  band  fell,  one  by  one,  before  the  heartless 
host  that  remained.  The  night  before,  Hosein  had 
formed  a  frail  rampart  around  his  little  group  by 
throwing  together  all  the  tents,  and  he  had  caused  a 
ditch  to  be  dug,  which  was  filled  with  logs  and 
brushwood,  but  it  did  not  resist  the  onslaught  of  the 


DEATH  OF  HOSEIN.  303 

enemy.  At  last  but  five  remained  besides  Hosein, 
and  they  were  tormented  by  thirst  and  overpowered 
by  the  heat  ;  all  at  once  these  threw  themselves 
upon  the  assailants  and  were  cut  down.  Still  the 
kalif's  host  seemed  restrained  from  striking  the  son 
of  AH.  On  the  march  from  Mecca  a  child  of  but  a 
single  year  had  been  of  the  party  ;  and  now  its  cries 
of  distress  at  the  hour  of  prayer  attracted  Hosein  ; 
he  caught  it  to  his  arms,  and  at  the  moment  its  ear 
was  pierced  by  an  arrow ;  it  fell  lifeless  to  the 
ground.  Hosein  laid  it  down  with  a  pious  ejacula- 
tion and  started  to  the  water  to  drink,  when  he  was 
himself  struck  upon  the  lips  by  a  random  shot ;  his 
enemies  surrounded  him  ;  a  lance  was  thrust  through 
his  back  and  he  fell  over,  a  corpse.  The  spot  has 
been  marked  by  tradition,  and  a  sepulchre,  called 
Meshed  Hosein  (the  Sepulchre  of  Hosein),  was  in 
after  times  erected  there. 

The  ages  that  have  passed  since  that  Moharrem 
day  have  magnified  every  incident  of  the  struggle, 
and  Hosein  is  looked  upon  as  a  martyr,  sacrificed  to 
the  hate  of  the  Omiades, — as  one  who  gave  himself 
for  his  people.  The  Persian  loves  to  think  that  his 
dying  in  this  way  had  been  prophesied  by  Moham- 
med;  Hosein  is  even  represented  as  standing  at 
the  grave  of  the  prophet  before  starting  for  Irak, 
and  there  saying  :  "  How  can  I  forget  my  people, 
since  I  am  about  to  offer  myself  for  their  sake  ?  " 

The  whole  story  of  the  "  Family  of  the  Tent "  has 
been  idealized  and  dramatized  ;  regularly,  as  the  first 
month  comes  around,  Persia  gives  itself  up  for  ten 
days  to  a  grand  festival  of  mourning,  in  which  the 


304  THE   TRAGEDY  OF  MOHARREM, 

entire  story  is  re-enacted  with  a  realism  so  terrible 
that  on  some  occasions  the  actors  are  really  sacri- 
ficed, as  their  prototypes  are  represented  to  have 
been. 

Nowhere  else  on  earth  can  we  see  ''  such  passion 
of  grief,  such  grandeur  of  selfless  sympathy  as  here, 
where  the  people  forget  the  passing  of  time  and  the 
changing  of  place,  and  taking  the  rude  platform  for 
the  real  scene  of  the  martyrdom,  and  the  actors  for 
those  they  represent,  furiously  stone  the  soldiers  of 
Yezid  and  drive  them  from  the  stage ;  and  the 
murderer-actor  so  loses  himself  in  his  part  that  he 
thinks  he  sees  the  real  Hosein  in  the  man  before 
him,  and  actually  beheads  him  before  all  eyes  !  "  * 
'•'It  is  a  long  way  from  Kerbala  to  Calvary,"  says 
Matthew  Arnold,  '■'  but  the  sufferers  of  Kerbala  hold 
aloft  to  the  eyes  of  millions  of  our  race  the  lesson  so 
loved  by  the  Sufferer  of  Calvary,  for  he  said  :  '  Learn 
of  me,  for  I  am  mild  and  lowly  of  heart,  and  ye  shall 
find  rest  unto  your  souls.'  "  f 

During  the  opening  days  of  the  month  Moharrem 
the  entire  populace  of  Mohammedan  India  is  wrought 
up  to  this  intense  excitement,  especially  on  the 
tenth  day,  which  is  honored  by  the  Sonnis  as  well  as 
by  the  Shias,  and  it  is  not  strange  that  the  period  is 
considered  critical  by  the  government. 

The  slaughter  of  Hosein  and  his  followers  did  not 

*  "Studies  in  a  Mosque,"  by  Stanley  Lane-Poole,  chapter  vii., 
*'  The  Persian  Miracle  Play,"  page  211. 

\  "Essays  in  Criticism,"  "A  Persian  Passion  Play,"  page  264. 
The  whole  essay  is  worthy  of  reading  in  this  connection,  though, 
perhaps,  the  character  of  Hosein  has  been  too  much  idealized  and 
purified  by  the  poet-essayist. 


HOSE  IN   CALLED   A    MARTYR.  305 

give  Yezid  peace,  for  among  the  other  pretenders  to 
the  throne,  Abdalla,  that  son  of  Zobeir,  still  remained 
at  Medina  ;  and  though  he  had  been  an  aspirant  to 
the  same  power  that  Hosein  had  grasped  at,  and  was 
therefore  during  his  lifetime  one  of  his  rivals,  he  now 
dared  to  call  loudly  upon  the  faithful  to  revenge  his 
death  !  He  depicted  in  glowing  words  the  marvel- 
lous character  of  the  son  of  Ali,  set  him  up  as  a 
martyr,  called  to  mind  his  particular  virtues,  his 
watchings,  his  prayers,  his  fastings,  his  lofty  heroism, 
all  the  frightful  circumstances  of  his  taking  off ; 
and  denounced  in  unmeasured  terms  the  perfidy  of 


COIN    OF   THE   OMIADES.       (ABOUT    725    A.D.) 

the  people  of  Irak,  especially  of  the  Kufans,  the 
blackest  villains,  as  he  assumed  to  think  them,  on  the 
face  of  the  earth.  ''  Never,"  he  exclaimed,  "  did 
this  holy  martyr  prefer  the  sound  of  music  to  the 
reading  of  the  Koran  ;  effeminate  songs  to  the  com- 
punctions produced  by  the  fear  of  Allah  ;  bacchana- 
lian orgies  to  abstemiousness  ;  the  pleasures  of  the 
chase  to  pious  conversation  "  ;  and  as  he  uttered  the 
words  doubtless  his  hearers  made  mental  compari- 
sons quite  to  the  disadvantage  of  Yezid.* 

*  See  "  Histoire  des  Musulmans  d'Espagne,"  par  R.  P.  A.  Dozy, 
torn,  i.,  p.  80, 


3o6  THE   TRAGEDY  OF  MOHARREM. 

Abdalla  entered  into  this  labor  with  all  the  spirit 
of  one  relieved  of  a  rival,  of  one  who  had  sought  an 
opportunity  to  excite  popular  feeling  against  a  ruler 
who  had  abandoned  the  sacred  cities  of  olden  time 
to  make  a  luxurious  capital  at  distant  Damascus. 
Abdalla  was  of  attractive  manners  and  adroit  policy, 
a  sort  of  Marc  Antony  among  the  Arabians,  and  he 
so  skilfully  worked  upon  the  feelings  of  the  Hashi- 
mites  that  they  incontinently  proclaimed  him  kalif 
and  gave  him  their  willing  allegiance. 

Vain  were  the  efforts  of  Yezid  to  put  down  the  re- 
bellion ;  Abdalla  met  his  orders  with  insult,  and  the 
people  cast  off  their  allegiance  boldly  with  suggestive 
gestures,  throwing  in  piles  their  shoes  and  their  tur- 
bans and  crying :  ''  I  cast  off  Yezid  as  I  cast  away 
this  shoe  !  "  "I  cast  off  Yezid  as  I  cast  off  this 
turban  !  "  the  growing  heaps  showing  the  unanimity 
of  their  feelings. 

The  Omiades  were  chased  from  the  city,  and 
closely  besieged  ;  but  they  managed  to  convey  to 
the  kalif  a  petition  for  help,  and  he  sent  twelve 
thousand  cavalry  and  five  thousand  foot-soldiers  to 
them,  under  command  of  Meslim,  son  of  that  Akba 
who  had  founded  Kairwan.  These  troops  found 
Medina  protected  by  a  deep  ditch  ;  but  after  four 
days  they  successfully  stormed  the  city,  and  a  scene 
of  slaughter  and  rapine  ensued  which  was  too 
dreadful  for  description  (a.D.  683).  The  army 
marched  on  to  Mecca,  where  Abdalla  was  himself 
besieged  for  three-score  days,  though  Meslim  died 
before  he  reached  the  holy  city.  Showers  of  stones, 
darts,    and    burning   naphtha   were    the    meantime 


•       DEATH   OF    YEZID.  307 

poured  down  upon  it,  and  upon  the  scarred  Kaaba, 
by  order  of  the  Hasan,  the  new  commander.  Still 
the  town  held  bravely  out  ;  the  holy  house  was 
burned  and  became  a  heap  of  ruins,  but  even  that 
disaster  did  not  bring  the  sturdy  Meccans  to  terms. 
In  the  midst  of  the  city's  great  distress  a  swift 
Arab  of  the  desert  brought  to  Abdalla  the  welcome 
intelligence  that  Yezid  was  no  more.  He  had 
breathed  his  last  at  Hawarin,  in  Syria,  at  the  early 
age  of  thirty-nine,  after  a  reign  of  less  than  four 
years  (a.D.  683).  This  event  was,  as  usual,  a  signal 
for  new  commotions.  The  critical  moment  for  Ab- 
dalla had  arrived,  and  he  knew  it  not.  Hasan  raised 
the  siege  immediately,  and  offered  to  support  the 
claims  of  Abdalla,  provided  he  would  go  with  him  to 
Damascus,  for  he  said  that  Moawia,  who  he  heard 
had  been  proclaimed  kalif  there,  was  entirely  unwor- 
thy of  the  office.  Abdalla  feared  to  trust  him,  and 
the  opportunity  passed  away. 


XXXII. 

THE   VICTORIES    OF   ABD    EL   MELIK. 

The  death  of  Hosein  proved  to  be  the  most  im- 
portant event  in  the  history  of  the  Saracens,  except- 
ing the  mission  of  the  prophet.  It  marks  an  outbreak 
of  the  long-threatened  schism  in  Islam  which  con- 
tinues to  divide  it  to  this  day  :  the  Persians  whose 
watchword  is  ''the  murdered  Hosein,"  being  Shias 
(Sectaries),  and  the  Turks,  who  hold  to  the  rightful- 
ness of  the  kalifs  before  Ali,  being  known  as  Son- 
nites  (Traditionists) 

The  time  had  indeed  changed  since  the  days  when 
the  prophet  lived  with  his  faithful  Kadija  upon  dates 
and  water ;  since  Omar  satisfied  himself  with  the 
same  simple  diet ;  since  the  times  of  simplicity  when 
the  humble  and  strong  kalifs  were  patterns  of 
abstemiousness  and  frugality  in  diet  and  dress. 
Moawia  had  lived  in  pomp  at  Damascus,  and  Yezid 
dressed  in  silks,  surrounded  himself  with  dogs  and 
dancing  women,  neglected  the  sacred  hours  of  wor- 
ship, drank  the  forbidden  wines,  and  emulated  all 
the  vices  and  the  display  of  the  other  sovereigns 
whom  he  had  seen  or  heard  of.  He  was  not  the  man 
to  build  up  a  religion  or  a  kingdom,  nor  was  his 
feeble  and  incompetent  son  better  adapted  to  these 
ends,      He  ascended  the  throne  as  Moawia  II.,  upon 

308 


ABDALLA    TtiE   ONLY  KALlF.  3O9 

his  father's  death,  but  at  the  end  of  six  months 
renounced  the  power  which  he  honestly  but  weakly 
confessed  that  his  grandfather  had  wrested  from  a 
better  man  ;  which  his  father  had  not  merited  nor 
used  as  a  great  trust  for  the  good  of  the  people ;  and 
of  which  he  was  himself  equally  unworthy.  He 
called  to  him  the  chief  men  of  his  court  and  said, 
with  a  singular  plainness  of  speech  :  "  I  have  decided 
to  abdicate  the  throne,  but  less  happy  than  Abu 
Bekr,  I  find  no  Omar  whom  I  can  name  as  my 
successor;  less  fortunate  than  Omar,  even,  I  find 
about  me  no  body  of  men  upon  whom  I  dare  impose 
the  task  of  choosing  a  ruler  for  the  empire  ;  I  there- 
fore call  upon  you  to  seek  the  proper  person,  and  give 
him  the  crown  !  "  Upon  this  Moawia  II.  returned 
to  his  palace  and  remained  in  his  chamber  until  death 
took  him  from  the  gloomy  existence  (a.d.  684). 

Now  Abdalla,  son  of  Zobeir,  at  Mecca,  was  the 
only  kalif,  but  the  men  of  Damascus  had  not  ac- 
knowledged him,  and  they  determined  to  remain  true 
to  the  family  of  Abu  Sofian,  the  family  of  the  Omi- 
ades.  Looking  for  a  candidate,  they  found  none  so 
promising  as  Merwan,  son  of  Hakim,  then  at  Me- 
dina, who  though  past  the  vigor  of  manhood  was 
still  strong  and  able.  He  had  made  his  mark  as 
secretary  of  Othman,  and  was  well  versed  in  the 
duties  and  traditions  of  the  office,  to  which,  indeed, 
he  eagerly  aspired.  Meantime  the  governor  of  Bas- 
sora,  he  who  had  caused  the  massacre  of  Hosein, 
managed  to  have  himself  declared  kalif  for  the  in- 
terim ;  but  his  authority  was  not  destined  to  endure. 
The  Kufans  opposed  him  and  excited  the  people  of 


3IO        THk  Victories  op  abd  el  melik. 

Bassora  to  rise  against  him.  He  fled  in  disgrace 
dressed  in  the  clothes  of  a  woman,  and  for  a  while 
Bassora  united  with  all  Arabia,  with  Korassan,  Irak, 
and  Egypt  in  supporting  Abdalla.  Merwan  did  not 
live  a  year,  and  in  that  brief  time  was  not  permitted 
to  enjoy  the  dignity  of  his  ofifice  in  peace.  He  died 
in  the  month  Ramadan,  684. 

The  same  Puritans,  known  as  Karejites,  who  had, 
on  the  field  of  Siffin,  demanded  the  establishment  of 
a  theocracy,  now  burst  from  the  fastnesses  in  which 
they  had  hidden  themselves,  and  rushed  through 
Irak  carrying  devastation  and  slaughter  everywhere. 
At  the  same  time  there  arose  on  the  part  of  certain 
persons  at  Kufa  who  repented  of  their  actions 
at  the  battle  of  Kerbala,  a  violent  desire  to  revenge 
the  slaughter  of  Hosein,  and  placing  at  their  head 
one  Soliman,  they  assembled  outside  the  walls  and 
sent  men  through  the  streets  crying :  ''  Vengeance 
for  Hosein!  Vengeance  for  Hosein  !  "  They  visited 
the  scene  of  the  carnage  at  Kerbala,  and  there  at  the 
tomb  of  the  martyr,  prayed  for  forgiveness ;  then 
thousands  of  them  plunged  into  the  rugged  ravine 
that  lay  towards  Damascus.  They  hastened  for- 
wards, only  to  meet  a  large  army  which  the  kalif 
had  sent  against  them,  and  to  be  cut  to  pieces  by  the 
overpowering  numbers,  despite  the  prodigies  of  valor 
that  they  wrought  in  their  desperation.  Vengeance 
for  Hosein  was  as  far  away  as  ever;  but  another 
champion  came  immediately  to  the  front,  called  by 
that  feeling  inherent  in  humanity  which  often  urges 
men  to  undertake  projects  in  which  there  is  neither 
prospect  of  success  nor  of  reward. 


PROUBLE  PROM  SOLIMAM  AND  MOKTAR.      3  1 1 

When  Moawia  II.  died,  his  son,  Abd  el  MeHk, 
then  not  quite  forty  years  of  age,  was  inaugurated 
kahf,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  his  father  had 
agreed  that  a  son  of  Yezid  should  then  enjoy  the 
throne.  Abd  el  Melik  found  himself  involved  in  war 
with  the  followers  of  Soliman,  then  directed  by  a 
daring  leader  named  Moktar,  who  claimed  to  be  lieu- 
tenant of  the  Mahdi  promised  by  the  prophet,  and 
supported  the  claims  of  a  Mohammed,  then  living  in 
retirement  at  Mecca,  a  son  of  Ali  by  another  wife 
than  Fatima.  Moktar  was  accustomed  to  harangue 
the  soldiers  in  verse.  He  claimed  that  the  Angel 
Gabriel  appeared  to  him  in  the  form  of  a  dove.  He 
had  fought  Hosein  on  the  plain  of  Kerbala. 

This  bloody  general  is  said  to  have  executed  fifty 
thousand  men  besides  those  he  had  killed  in  battle. 
In  the  struggle  which  ensued,  quarter  was  neither 
given  nor  expected,  and  warriors  who  were  them- 
selves on  the  point  of  death,  jauntily  ordered  their 
enemies  cut  down  by  the  hundred.  Moktar  made 
himself  master  of  Kufa,  and  ruled  it  with  an  iron 
hand,  persecuting  all  who  did  not  do  honor  to  the 
memory  of  Hosein.  Abdalla  sent  his  brother  Musab 
to  govern  Bassora,  and  Moktar  advanced  against  him 
with  an  army  of  twenty  thousand  men.  A  battle 
was  fought  not  far  from  Kufa,  and  Moktar  was 
obliged  to  retreat  within  the  walls.  With  six  thou- 
sand men  he  shut  himself  up  in  his  palace,  but  was 
closely  besieged,  and  at  last,  having  no  provisions, 
he  proposed  to  sally  out  to  cut  the  way  through  the 
enemy.  Only  nineteen  men  consented  to  take  part 
in  the   forlorn   hope,   and    they,    wrapping  winding- 


312  THE   VICTORIES  OF  ABD  EL  ME  Lilt. 

sheets  about  them,  rushed  forth  and  met  instant 
death.*  Musab  entered,  and  binding  the  hands  of 
the  remainder  of  the  garrison  behind  them,  led  them 
out  to  the  market-place  and  butchered  them  every 
one  (a.D.  687). 

This  pious  man  (after  the  Moslem  style  of  piety), 
now  that  the  enemy  was  overcome,  turned  his 
thoughts  towards  religion,  and  crossed  the  desert  to 
Mecca  as  pilgrim.  As  recompense  for  his  success, 
Abdalla  gave  him  the  government  of  Irak,  and  he 
established  his  capital  at  Bassora.  Abd  el  Melik,  all 
the  time  irritated  at  the  division  of  the  kalifate,  was 
planning  how  he  might  circumvent  Abdalla  and 
Musab,  who  not  only  possessed  Mecca,  but  also  that 
rich  country  watered  by  the  Euphrates  and  the 
Tigris,  which  he  felt  was  rightfully  his,  as  it  was,  if 
he  was  rightfully  kalif.  His  Syrian  subjects  could 
not  perform  the  pilgrimage  to  the  Kaaba  without 
hearing  imprecations  pronounced  by  those  whom 
they  would  naturally  respect,  upon  the  ruler  to 
whom  they  had  given  their  allegiance,  and  their 
loyalty  was  consequently  endangered.  For  these 
reasons,  Abd  el  Melik  bethought  himself  of  a 
radical  move  ;  he  established  at  Jerusalem  altars  to 
which  the  faithful  at  Damascus  might  resort  as  pil- 
grims ;  but  none  the  less  did  he  feel  the  necessity 
of  pushing  both  Abdalla  and  Musab  from  their  posi- 
tions. 

*  We  shall  see  (in  chap,  xxxv.)  how  the  expectation  of  a  coming 
Mahdi  continued  to  be  encouraged  among  the  Alyites,  until  it  re- 
sulted in  the  establishment  of  a  dynasty  of  Fatimites  in  Egypt,  which 
wrenched  from  the  kalif  that  extensive  province,  and  kept  it  for 
nearly  three  centuries. 


MUSAB  is  SLAIN.  ^t3 

In  the  year  690  he  set  out  for  Irak,  leaving  the 
government  of  the  capital  in  the  hands  of  a  cousin 
named  Amr.  This  man  had,  it  seems,  long  cherished 
ill  feelings  against  Abd  el  Melik,  and  took  the  op- 
portunity to  arrogate  the  supreme  authority,  which 
he  thought  he  had  some  right  to  enjoy,  as  he  was  the 
head  of  the  family  of  the  Omiades.  Information  of 
this  was  promptly  sent  to  Abd  el  Melik,  and  he  re- 
turned and  laid  siege  to  his  own  capital.  The  gar- 
rison then  refused  to  obey  the  usurper,  and  as  the 
result  of  a  bloody  battle  fought  in  the  streets  of  the 
city,  Amr  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  kalif.  After  a  pre- 
tended reconciliation,  Abd  el  Melik  treacherously 
executed  his  cousin,  put  his  supporters  to  death,  and 
banished  his  family.  This  accomplished,  he  took 
up  his  march  for  Irak  again,  accompanied  by  all 
the  troops  that  he  was  able  to  gather.  He  sent 
letters  in  advance  intended  to  lead  prominent  men 
to  desert  the  standard  of  Musab,  and  they  appear 
to  have  had  considerable  effect.  Musab  endeavored 
to  anticipate  his  enemy,  and  advanced  to  a  place 
called  Maskam,  said  to  have  been  on  the  borders  of 
the  desert  near  Palmyra,  where  the  usual  miracles  of 
valor  and  horrors  of  butchery  were  performed,  and 
at  last  Musab  was  slain.  After  the  battle,  Abd  el 
Melik  proceeded  to  Kufa,  entered  it  in  triumph, 
ordered  large  sums  of  gold  to  be  distributed  among 
the  people,  and  taking  a  position  in  the  palace,  gave 
audience  to  the  citizens  and  received  their  informal 
allegiance. 

While  thus  sojourning  in  the  palace,  the  head  of 
Musab  was  brought  to  him,  and  as  he  noticed  one  of 


3^4  THE   VICTORIES  OF  ABD  EL  MELIK. 

the  bystanders  shudder  at  the  not  uncommon  sight, 
he  asked  the  reason.  "  In  this  place,"  the  other  re- 
plied, "  I  saw  the  head  of  Hosein  placed  before  the 
governor  of  Kufa  ;  I  saw  the  governor's  head  in  like 
manner  placed  before  Moktar  ;  I  saw  the  head  of 
Moktar  placed  before  Musab  ;  knd  now  I  see  the 
head  of  Musab  placed  before  thee  !  "  Horror  seized 
the  kalif  at  the  ominous  recital,  and  he  gave  orders 
that  the  hall  which  had  witnessed  the  gruesome 
transactions  should  be  destroyed,  in  order  that  his 
own  head  might  not  at  some  future  time  be  there 
presented  to  some  other  conqueror.  Forty  days 
more  Abd  el  Melik  remained  at  Kufa  in  order  to 
carry  out  the  engagements  that  he  had  made  with 
the  inhabitants,  and  to  appoint  officers  to  govern 
for  him. 

The  success  of  Abd  el  Melik  in  the  East  made  him 
confident,  and  upon  his  return  to  Damascus  he  deter- 
mined to  proceed  against  Abdalla.  It  was  the  year 
691.  While  the  kalif  was  meditating  upon  the  ex- 
pedition, there  appeared  to  him  a  man  born  at  the 
time  that  the  Kufans  had  refused  to  give  their  aid  to 
Ali.  He  had,  so  the  story  goes,  rejected  all  nourish- 
ment in  his  infancy,  until  his  life  was  despaired  of, 
when  Iblis  appeared  and  advised  that  he  should  be 
offered  the  blood  of  a  kid,  of  a  goat,  of  an  adder,  and 
in  this  way  his  appetite  had  been  first  satisfied.  In 
youth  he  found  himself  unable  to  refrain  from  shed- 
ding blood,  and  as  he  grew  up  his  chief  delight  was 
in  carnage.  His  name  was  Hejaj.  He  now  said  to 
the  kalif :  "  I  have  had  a  vision,  and  in  my  dream,  I 
have  slain  Abdalla,  the  usurper  of  Mecca;  wherefore 


The  Bloody  success  of  heja^.         315 

send  me  against  him,  and  I  will  surely  deliver  him 
into  thy  hands  !  " 

To  this  unnatural  man  the  kalif  accordingly  com- 
mitted the  command  of  the  expedition,  giving  him  a 
sufficient  army.  Hejaj  hastened  to  accomplish  his 
mission  ;  he  appeared  before  Abdalla,  having  passed 
Medina  without  molesting  it,  and  after  resting  a 
while  at  Taif,  gained  a  victory  at  the  first  onset. 
He  then  sent  for  more  men,  and  sat  down  before  the 
city  to  reduce  it  by  a  regular  siege.  Day  by  day  and 
month  by  month  the  supporters  of  Abdalla  gave 
way  before  the  silent  potency  of  famine  and  the 
force  of  the  well-directed  lances  of  the  besiegers,  un- 
til even  the  relentless  Hejaj  wrote  to  Abdalla  urging 
him  to  capitulate,  and  relieve  the  Holy  City  of  its 
horrors.  With  true  Arabian  infatuation  Abdalla  re- 
fused, in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  citizens  were 
deserting  his  banners,  and  his  sons  were  calling  upon 
him  to  have  pity  upon  the  people. 

At  last  the  end  came;  in  imitation  of  the  examples 
of  Hosein  and  of  Musab,  Abdalla,  with  a  handful  of 
companions,  thrust  himself  into  a  breach  that  the 
enemy  had  made,  astonished  even  his  opponents  by 
his  reckless  acts,  and  fell,  struck  upon  the  head  by 
one  of  the  invaders.  The  cry  "  Great  is  Allah  !  " 
which  arose  from  the  army  of  Hejaj,  announced  that 
Abd  el  Melik  was  undisputed  kalif  of  Islam  ;  and 
that  the  cities  of  Mecca  and  Medina  had  lost  all 
their  pristine  importance.  Hejaj  was  left  in  com- 
mand of  the  forces  at  Mecca,  and,  in  fact,  of  all 
Arabia.  He  pulled  down  the  Kaaba  (which  had 
been   partially  burned,  and   afterwards   repaired,    in 


3l6  THE  VICTORIES  OF  ABD  EL  MELIK. 

the  time  of  Abdalla)  and  put  it  in  order ;  he  ruled 
the  poor  Meccans  with  a  rod  of  iron,  and  tormented 
them  apparently  for  no  other  purpose  than  to  see 
their  pain. 

In  the  year  695,  a  rebellion  in  distant  Korassan 
caused  Abd  el  Melik  to  need  the  help  of  a  strong 
man  to  the  eastward.  Hejaj  was  made  governor  of 
Irak,  and  he  repaired  to  Kufa,  which  he  entered 
in  extremely  impressive  style,  riding  into  the  city  at 
the  head  of  a  large  military  force.  He  went  directly 
to  the  mosque,  where  he  ascended  the  pulpit,  and 
announced  to  the  trembling  people  that  he  had 
*'  come  to  make  the  wicked  man  bear  his  own 
burdens  and  wear  his  own  shoe  "  ;  that  he  saw  be- 
fore him  '*  heads  ripe  for  the  mowing,  and  turbans 
and  beards  sprinkled  with  blood."  ^'  Servants  of 
rebellion  and  perfidy  ;  I  am  not  a  weak  one ;  I  will 
strip  you  as  the  bark  is  stripped  from  the  tree;  I 
will  scourge  you  as  the  camel  is  scourged  which 
strays  from  the  herd  ;  I  will  break  you  in  pieces  as 
the  stones  are  broken  on  the  highway.  I  am  He- 
jaj, son  of  Yusuf !  If  I  shave,  I  raze  the  skin  !  " 
At  Bassora  he  made  like  speeches,  which  naturally 
stirred  up  much  opposition  against  him  ;  but  he 
kept  the  turbulent  people  quiet,  and  that  was  the 
duty  which  his  master  required  of  him.  He  likewise 
defeated  the  rebellious  governor  of  Korassan  and 
brought  that  region  under  the  kalif's  sway.  It  was 
at  this  period  that  Hejaj  founded  Wasit,  a  city  half 
way  between  Bassora  and  Kufa,  in  order  that  he 
might  from  it  more  easily  control  the  region  (a.D. 
702,  about) 


SHEBIB  LEADS   THE  KAREJITES. 


317 


All  this  time  the  fanatical  Karejites  were  stirring 
up  the  whole  eastern  portion  of  the  kalifate,  and 
by  their  desperate  infatuation  they  gave  constant 
sohcitude  to  Abd  el  Melik  and  his  governors.  They 
proved  the  fiercest  and  most  incorrigible  enemies 
that  Hejaj  had  to  meet  ;  but  in  time,  even  they 
were  conquered,  their  last  commander,  Shebib,  who 


COINS   OF   THE  EARLY  KALIFS. 


overcame  Hejaj  in  several  battles,  was  drowned 
when  retreating,  after  an  encounter  in  which  his 
army  had  been  worsted.  When  Shebib  died,  Abd  el 
Melik  found  himself  at  peace  with  all  parts  of  his  do- 
minions. From  that  time  (a.D.  696),  there  was  quiet 
for  five  years. 

The  reign  of  Abd  el  Melik  is  notable  as  being  the 


3l8  THE   VICTORIES  OF  ABD  EL  MELIK. 

period  when  first  the  Saracens  coined  money  for 
themselves.  The  time  for  the  payment  of  tribute 
to  Constantinople  had  almost  come  to  an  end,  and 
this  kalif  refused  to  pay  it  longer  in  the  coin  of  the 
empire.  Arabia  and  Syria  and  Irak  had  all  depended 
upon  Persia  and  the  Roman  empire  for  their  currency, 
and  when  Abd  el  Melik  now  began  to  pay  the  em- 
peror of  Constantinople  in  Arabian  coin,  that  mon- 
arch refused  to  accept  it  ;  upon  which  the  kalif  de- 
clined to  pay  the  tribute  longer  in  any  form,  and 
being  one  of  the  most  powerful  rulers  of  the  world 
he  was  able  to  persist  in  his  refusal,  and  thus  to  add 
to  his  independence. 

During  the  time  that  the  wars  had  been  going  on 
between  the  kalifs  of  Damascus  and  Mecca,  the  Afri- 
cans who  had  formerly  acknowledged  allegiance  to 
the  Saracens,  renounced  it,  and  as  soon  as  Abd  el 
Melik  found  himself  in  a  condition  to  make  an  effort 
to  bring  them  back  to  their  loyalty,  he  sent  an  army 
in  that  direction  under  Hasan  (a.d.  692).  It  ad- 
vanced along  the  northern  coast  to  Kairwan,  and 
thence  to  Carthage,  which  was  reduced  after  a  long 
siege,  its  inhabitants  being  scattered  to  Andalusia 
and  Sicily.  The  Berbers  of  the  region  were  not  so 
easily  overcome  ;  but  even  they  finally  gave  way,  and 
the  whole  land  came  under  the  sway  of  the  kalif. 

The  Saracens  were  afterwards  led  by  their  guides 
to  a  mountain  to  the  southwest  of  Carthage,  where 
the  Berbers  made  a  stand  under  the  command  of 
their  queen,  Kahina  (a.D.  698).  The  struggle  was 
severe,  and  for  a  while  doubtful,  but  at  last  the 
queen  was  captured  and__beheaded   in  the  presence 


THE   THIRD  CONQUEST  OF  AFRICA, 


319 


of  the  Saracenic  commander.  This  was  not  accom- 
plished, however,  until  the  Africans  had  themselves 
laid  their  territory  waste  from  Tripoli  to  the  Straits 
of  Gibraltar.  Twelve  thousand  Berber  warriors  were 
incorporated  in  the  Saracenic  army,  and  immense 
accumulations  of  spoil  were  taken  from  the  con- 
quered cities  to  Damascus.     This  was  the  third  time 


A    BERBER    VILLAGE. 


that  the  Saracens  had  conquered  Africa,  but  their 
supremacy  was  shortly  overthrown  again,  and  the 
Roman  and  Greek  inhabitants  were  fain  to  call  the 
Arabs  back  to  relieve  them  from  the  Barbarian  rul- 
ers, whose  government  they  soon  found  unbearable. 
The  reign  of  this  powerful  kalif  came  to  a  close 
in   705,  and  he  was  succeeded  by  his  eldest  son,  W^- 


320  THE   VICTORIES  OF  ABD  EL  MELIK. 

lid,  with  whom  the  glory  of  the  dynasty  culminated. 
Abd  el  Melik  was  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary  mili- 
tary ability,  as  the  extension  of  his  kingdom  and  the 
subjection  of  his  rivals  amply  prove  ;  but  he  was 
also  addicted  to  letters,  and  encouraged  literary 
men,  giving  them  extravagant  presents  from  his 
royal  fortune.  During  his  reign  the  three  great 
poets  of  the  early  kalifate,  Aktal,  Farazdak,  and 
Jerir  flourished,  and  they  were  overwhelmed  with 
honors  and  riches  by  the  kalif.  Aktal  was  the 
chief  favorite  and  his  good  fortune  proved  too 
much  for  him ;  he  dressed  in  superb  garments  of 
silk,  ornamented  his  person  with  golden  chains,  and 
indulged  in  unbecoming  familiarity  with  his  patron. 


GREATEST   EXTENT 

OF  THE 

SARACEN   DOMINIONS 

Shou/s  Boundary  cf  Saracen  Dominions^ 

Eighth  Century  of  the  Christian  Era. 


XXXIII. 

THE   GLORY   OF   THE    OMIADES. 

When  Walid  assumed  the  reins  of  government 
that  had  fallen  from  the  hands  of  his  father,  he 
naturally  sought  to  continue  some  of  the  lines  of 
public  policy  that  he  knew  had  been  successful.  He 
was  a  man  of  luxurious  habits  and  elegant  tastes,  as 
tastes  went  at  that  period  ;  he  delighted  in  piling  up 
grand  edifices,  in  adorning  them  with  all  the  gor- 
geousness  for  which  Oriental  architecture  is  famed, 
and  he  evidently  wished  to  leave  monuments  of  this 
kind  which  should  keep  him  forever  in  memory.  In 
this  he  was  successful.  He  erected  a  grand  mosque 
at  Cairo  on  the  site  of  one  that  then  stood  there, 
and  adorned  its  pillars  with  gilded  capitals ;  he 
beautified  and  enlarged  the  mosque  at  Jerusalem 
that  his  father  had  built,  and  encouraged  pilgrimages 
in  that  direction  ;  he  sent  architects  from  the  capital 
to  tear  down  and  build  up  those  structures  at  Mecca 
which  the  faithful  so  greatly  venerated,  and  he 
scandalized  the  feelings  of  the  men  of  the  olden 
time  by  thus  continuing  the  departure  from  the 
simplicity  that  they  remembered  from  their  youth. 
His  efforts  were  not  all  made  at  a  distance  from 
home^  for  he  dispossessed  the  Christians  of  Damas- 

321 


322  THE  GLORY  OF  THE  OMIADES. 

cus  of  their  ancient  church  of  St.  John  the  Baptist, 
on  which  Roman  emperors  had  long  lavished  their 
gold,  and  in  which  they  had  accumulated  many 
relics  of  martyrs  and  saints,  and  on  its  site  he  em- 
ployed workmen  by  the  thousand  in  erecting  a 
mosque  in  which,  by  uniting  the  architecture  of 
Greece  and  Persia,  he  laid  the  foundation  of  the 
Saracenic  style,  from  which  some  of  the  graces  and 
ornamentations  of  the  Gothic  were  to  be  borrowed 
in  another  age. 

While  Walid  was  living  in  luxury  at  Damascus 
and  gratifying  his  artistic  tastes,  his  generals  were 
fighting  for  his  empire  in  Asia  Minor,  in  Korassan, 
in  Africa,  and  making  his  authority  everywhere  felt. 
They  ravaged  Cappadocia,  Armenia,  Pontus,  and 
Galatia,  and  brought  to  Damascus  the  usual  crowds 
of  captives  bearing  rich  spoils.  They  crossed  the 
Oxus,  drove  before  them  the  hordes  of  Turkestan, 
and  captured  the  city  of  Bokhara  ;  they  went  again 
to  Samarkand  and,  after  a  siege,  obliged  it  to  pay  a 
great  tribute  annually  in  gold  and  to  contribute 
three  thousand  human  beings  every  year  to  the  slave- 
marts  of  Damascus ;  ^  and  they  undermined  the  re- 
ligion of  the  Magians  ;  they  overran  Scinde,  and 
penetrated  in  that  direction  as  far  as  the  great  river 
of  India  (a.d.  708). 

On  the  water,  their  fleets  ravaged  Sicily  and  Sar- 
dinia, sacking  cities  and  carrying  off  booty,  prisoners, 

*  "  There  is  no  place  in  Central  Asia  which  has  so  impressed  the 
imagination  of  Europe  as  Samarkand,"  Schuyler's  "  Turkistan,"  vol. 
i.,  p.  236.  In  1497  the  city  was  described  as  one  of  the  most  de- 
lightful for  situation  in  the  habitable  world,  and  being  of  ' '  wonderful 
elegance." 


324  THE  GLORY  OF  THE  OMIADES. 

and  many  beautiful  maidens  for  the  slave-market 
and  the  imperial  harem.  Everywhere  the  dread  of 
the  Saracens  was  becoming  a  new  terror,  for  these 
were  the  times  when  international  law  was  unknown 
and  rulers  did  not  expect  to  govern  except  by 
irresponsible  despotism.  So  extensive  was  the  sway 
of  the  kalif,  indeed,  that  there  seemed  to  be  little 
left  for  his  arms  to  conquer.  They  found  their  limit 
at  the  Pillars  of  Hercules. 

We  have  seen  a  general  rushing  into  the  waves 
of  the  Atlantic,  and  complaining,  like  a  lesser 
Alexander,  that  he  had  no  world  to  conquer  ;  now 
another  Saracen,  pursuing  his  career  of  conquest  to 
the  same  limit,  finds  a  means  of  carrying  his  standard 
farther.  Success  is  not  always  good  fortune  in  the 
struggle  of  life,  and  in  earlier  ages,  when  law  was 
weaker  and  rulers  arbitrary,  a  general  was  never  sure 
of  winning  lasting  favor  by  advancing  the  projects 
of  his  king. 

At  the  beginning  of  his  kalifate,  Walid  had  sent 
one  Musa  into  Africa  to  reconquer  and  quiet  that 
revolutionary  land.  This  general  advanced  to  the 
spot  where  the  continents  of  Africa  and  Europe 
approach  within  fifteen  miles  of  one  another,  and  at 
the  town  of  Ceuta,  situated  on  a  rocky  promontory 
facing  the  great  rock  of  Gibraltar,  met  his  first 
effectual  repulse.  It  proved  but  the  forerunner  of 
victory  and  conquest  more  notable  than  any  he  had 
before  accomplished.  Through  the  Pillars  of  Her- 
cules he  was  destined  to  carry  Moslem  supremacy 
into  a  continent  on  which  it  had  before  been  all  but 
unknown. 


RODERICK  THE   LAST   OF  THE    GOTHS.        325 

Three  centuries  before  this  time  the  furious  West 
Goths  had  entered  the  peninsula  of  Spain  and  had 
overcome  the  Roman  power  ;  but  now  they  were 
themselves  weakened  and  rent  by  internal  dissen^ 
sions  and  ready  to  fall  before  a  determined  antago- 
nist. More  than  a  century  had  passed  since  the 
Goths  had  embraced  Christianity,  and  they  therefore 
now  represented  the  same  enemy  that  the  Moslem 
had  encountered  on  the  banks  of  the  Bosphorus. 

"  Famine  and  pestilence  had  wasted  them  ; 
And  treason,  like  an  old  and  eating  sore, 
Consumed  the  bones  and  sinews  of  their  strength." 

The  ruler  of  the  Goths  in  Spain  at  the  time  was 
Roderick,  whose  name  was  destined  to  become  the 
favorite  of  poets  and  ballad-writers,  and  to  be  sur- 
rounded with  a  halo  of  romance  such  as  has  fallen 
to  the  lot  of  few  heroes  of  his  class.  Romance  has, 
indeed,  almost  obliterated  the  true  story  of  this  ill- 
fated  monarch.  He  was  son  of  a  duke  of  Cordova, 
and  under  King  Witica  had  risen  to  a  great  renown, 
of  which  he  had  taken  advantage  to  seize  the  throne 
and  to  banish  the  king  (a.D.  708).  Witica's  sons, 
unable  to  make  head  against  him,  had  passed  over 
to  Africa,  where  Count  Julian,  then  commanding 
Ceuta,  had  received  them,  taken  their  part,  and 
offered  to  re-establish  them  upon  the  throne  of  their 
fathers. 

At  this  juncture  the  feelings  of  Julian  towards 
Musa  changed  completely,  and  instead  of  wishing  to 
have  him  as  an  enemy,  he  looked  upon  him  as  a 
most    desirable    ally.      He    therefore    surprised    his 


326  THE  GLORY  OF  THE  OMIADES, 

Moslem  opponent  by  offering  (either  directly,  or 
through  Tarik  ben  Zeyad)  not  only  to  give  up  the 
stronghold  of  Ceuta,  but  to  lead  him  to  further  and 
much  richer  scenes  of  conquest.  Musa  was  not  pre- 
pared for  so  sudden  a  change,  and  naturally  doubted 
the  sincerity  of  his  whilom  enemy,  but  he  prepared 
to  seize  upon  the  chance  it  offered.  He  sent  to  the 
kalif,  at  Damascus,  for  permission  to  accept  the 
proposition,  telling  him  that  the  territory  he  wished 
to  enter  enjoyed  a  climate  milder  than  that  of  Syria  ; 
that  its  fields  were  more  fertile  than  those  of  Ye- 
men ;  its  vegetation  more  fragrant  that  that  of 
India  ;  its  mines  richer  in  precious  metals  than  those 
of  Kathay  ;  and  its  shores  embroidered  with  flowers 
of  brighter  colors  and  sweeter  perfumes  than  those 
of  Eden  itself.  Such  a  seductive  picture  was  too 
much  for  a  kalif  given  over  to  pleasures  of  sense, 
and  he  sent  his  permission  to  Musa  with  as  much 
eagerness  as  it  had  been  asked,  though  he  warned 
his  viceroy  not  to  venture  until  he  had  assured  him- 
self that  the  count's  sudden  change  was  not  simu- 
lated. 

Musa  accordingly  sent  over  the  strait  a  force  of 
four  hundred  foot-soldiers  and  a  hundred  cavalry- 
men, under  command  of  one  Tarif,  who  debarked  at 
a  place  that  still  bears  his  name,  and  reminds  us  in 
our  word  *' tarif "  of  a  ''duty"  which  was  forcibly 
levied  upon  vessels  afterwards  passing  through  those 
waters.  This  expedition  realized  the  general's  fond- 
est hopes,  and  he  returned  in  October,  bearing  to 
Musa  rich  booty  and  many  captives.  A  second  and 
more  formidable  expedition  was  made  ready  as  soon 


AN  ALGERIAN   BERBER. 


328  THE  GLORY  OF  THE  OMIADES. 

as  possible,  and  sent  to  the  fated  country  of  tlie 
Goths.  Tarik,"^  who  commanded  it,  landed  on  a  rock 
known  to  the  ancients  as  Calpe,  now  called  Gibraltar 
(Jebel  Tarik  :  the  Mount  of  Tarik). 

'*  A  countless  multitude  they  came  ; 

Syrian,  Moor,  Saracen,  Greek  renegade, 
Persian  and  Copt  and  Tartar,  in  one  bond 
Of  erring  faith  conjoined, — strong  in  youth 
And  heat  of  zeal.     .     .     . 

Thou,  Calpe,  sawest  their  coming  ;  ancient  Rock 
Renowned,  no  longer  now  shalt  thou  be  called 
From  gods  and  heroes  of  the  years  of  yore, 

*  The  name  Tarik  suggests  some  of  the  perplexities  encountered  in 
this  investigation.  The  difference  between  ' '  Tarif  "  and  * '  Tarik  "  in 
Arabic  is  but  a  single  dot,  and  this  seems  in  the  passage  of  centuries 
to  have  become  so  confused  that  historians  are  not  able  to  distinguish 
the  two  persons,  if,  indeed,  there  were  two.  Makkari,  Weil,  and 
Dozy  assert  that  it  was  "  Tarif  abu  Zora  "  who  passed  from  Africa 
to  Spain  "in  710."  Woodward,  (Ency.  Chron.)  and  Miniana  tell 
us  that  "  Tarif  ibn  Malik,"  went  over  "in  711  ";  and  Miniana  omits 
to  give  the  name  of  the  leader  in  710.  Rosseeuw  St.  Hilaire, 
Irving,  Conde,  Woodward,  Sedillot,  En-Nowari  the  Egyptian,  and 
Lopez  de  Ayala  assert  that  it  was  * '  Tarik  ben  Zeyad  "  who  crossed 
in  710;  though  Woodward  thus  contradicts  his  previous  statement 
about  "  Tarif."  Most  good  authorities  are  agreed  that  it  was  Tarik 
ben  Zeyad  who  led  the  expedition  of  711.  Alcantara,  Bleda,  La- 
rousse,  and  the  editor  of  "La  Nouvelle  Biographic  Generale  "  say 
that  it  was  the  same  person  who  led  both  incursions,  though  the  last 
mentioned  gives  his  name  as  "  Tarik,"  and  Larousse  as  "  Tarif  or 
Tarik  ;"  and,  finally  Ibn-abd-el-Hakem,  Ibn-Khaldun,  and  Sedillot, 
know  no  "Tarif,"  though  Hakem  knows  two  "  Tariks,"  neither  of 
whom  is  mentioned  by  the  other  writers.  "  Tarif  "  was  unknown  be- 
fore this  time,  and  does  not  appear  in  history  afterwards.  "  See  Baron 
de  Slane's  "  Histoire  de  Berberes,"  vol.  i.,  pp.  215,  346  ;  Makkari's 
"  Mohammedan  Dynasties  in  Spain"  (Gayangos),  vol.  i.,  pp.  265,  516  ; 
Weil,  "Geschichte  der  Chalifen,"  vol.  i.,  pp.  517,  518.  Rosseeuw 
St.  Hilaire,  "  Histoire  d'Espagne,"  vol.  i.,  pp.  381,  382. 


DEATH  OF  RODERICK,  329 

"  Kronos  or  hundred-handed  Briareus, 
Bacchus,  or  Hercules  ;  but  doomed  to  bear 
The  name  of  thy  new  conqueror,  and  thenceforth 
To  stand  his  everlasting  monument. 
Thou  sawest  the  dark-blue  waters  flash  before 
Their  ominous  way,  and  whiten  round  their  keel, 
Their  swarthy  myriads  darkening  o'er  thy  sands. 

"  There  on  the  beach  the  Misbelievers  spread 
Their  banners,  flaunting  to  the  sun  and  breeze  : 
Fair  shone  the  sun  upon  their  proud  array, — 
White  turbans,  glittering  armor,  shields  engrailed 
With  gold,  and  cimeters  of  Syrian  steel  ; 
And  gently  did  the  breezes,  as  in  sport, 
Curl  their  long  flags  outrolling." 

The  invaders  encountered  the  Goths  soon  after 
their  arrival,  and  a  decisive  battle  was  fought  (July, 
711)  a  few  miles  northeast  of  Cadiz,  known  gen- 
erally as  the  Battle  of  Jeres,  or  Xeres,  in  which 
Roderick  was  killed  and  his  army  put  to  flight.  When 
the  news  of  this  victory  reached  Musa,  a  mean- 
spirited  fear  entered  his  mind  lest  his  general  might 
gain  too  much  glory,  and  crossing  the  strait  him- 
self with  a  body  of  ten  thousand  warriors,  he  sent 
orders  to  Tarik  not  to  pursue  the  enemy.  Indig- 
nant at  receiving  such  a  command,  Tarik  called  a 
council  of  war,  at  which  Julian,  inspired  with  the 
courage  of  an  implacable  hatred,  spoke  plainly  for 
continuing  the  struggle.  "  Shall  we,"  he  cried, 
''  leave  the  flying  Christians  time  to  rally  and  to  call 
back  their  broken  courage?  No!  let  us  unsheathe 
our  swords  and  pursue  them  without  stopping  for 
breath !  Let  us  take  their  cities  !  Our  task  will  not 
be  accomplished  until  we  can  lay  ourselves  down 
quietly  within  the  walls  of  Toledo," 


330  THE  GLORY  OF  THE  OMIADES. 

The  words  aroused  the  mihtary  enthusiasm  of 
all,  and  Tarik  eagerly  embraced  the  moment  to 
divide  his  army  into  three  portions,  and  to  order  an 
immediate  campaign  against  Elvira,  Cordova,  and 
Toledo.  The  corps  sent  against  Elvira,  captured 
that  city,  and  also  Malaga  and  Ecija ;  the  second, 
took  possession  of  Cordova  ;  the  third  body,  com- 
manded by  Tarik  himself,  so  much  alarmed  the  peo- 
ple of  Toledo  that  they  fled  in  large  numbers  to  the 
valleys  of  the  Pyrenees,  and  those  who  could  not  fly 
surrendered,  with  the  promise  to  pay  tribute  to  the 
Moslems.  At  Toledo  Tarik  captured  a  costly  table 
of  pure  gold,  adorned  with  precious  stones,  said  to 
have  been  made  by  Solomon,  son  of  David,  and 
took  off  one  of  its  valuable  emerald  legs.  Musa 
afterward  claimed  the  trophy  and  caused  a  new  leg 
of  gold  to  be  made  for  it ;  but  when  he  presented  it 
to  the  kalif  at  Damascus,  Tarik,  by  producing  the 
missing  leg,  proved  that  he,  and  not  Musa,  had  the 
first  right  to  it. 

After  this  victory,  Tarik  ventured  to  go  still  far- 
ther to  the  north,  and  only  turned  upon  his  track 
when  he  had  reached  Gigon  on  the  Bay  of  Biscay 
and  was  obliged  to  stop.  Then  he  returned  to  Toledo 
to  give  an  account  of  himself, — to  tell  his  superior 
ofificer  why  he  had  not  stopped  in  the  midst  of  his 
career  of  conquest.  He  was  thrust  into  prison  for 
his  success ;  but  he  was  afterwards  set  at  liberty  and 
replaced  in  command,  by  order  of  Walid,  and  then  he 
joined  Musa  in  a  plan  to  subdue  the  remainder  of 
Spain.  One  warrior  went  to  the  westward  and  the 
other  tQ  the  north,  and  after  various  successes  which 


A   BERT5F,R   WOMAN 


332  THE  GLORY  OF  THE  OMIADES. 

belong  rather  to  the  Story  of  the  Moors  in  Spain  * 
than  to  our  subject,  they  met  again  before  Saragossa, 
which  city  they  captured,  for  "■  Allah  filled  the  hearts 
of  the  infidels  with  terror,"  as  a  Moslem  chronicler 
avers. 

Inflated  by  his  wondrous  successes,  Musa  planned 
a  magnificent  campaign,  which,  had  he  carried  it  out, 
would  have  given  quite  a  different  phase  to  subse- 
quent European  history  ;  he  determined  to  make  his 
way  back  to  Damascus  by  the  way  of  Constantinople, 
thus  possessing  himself  of  Europe  from  the  West  to 
the  East,  surrounding  the  Mediterranean  with  a  con- 
nected series  of  Moslem  allies  and  ranging  the  entire 
ancient  world  under  the  standard  of  the  prophet.f 

Just  as  this  grand  idea  had  been  conceived,  Walid 
sent  an  order  calling  both  Tarik  and  Musa  to  the 
capital.  He  had  begun  to  fear  lest  the  rivalry  be- 
tween them  (they  being  of  Berber  and  Arabic  blood 
respectively)  might  cause  some  great  catastrophe, 
and  endanger  the  success  that  had  been  won.  Tarik 
travelled  by  rapid  stages  and  reached  Damascus  be- 
fore Musa,  who  took  in  his  train  thirty  thousand 
captives  and  immense  quantities  of  booty.  Tarik 
arrived  in  the  presence  of  the  kalif  just  as  that  mon- 
arch was  about  to  breathe  his  last ;    he  recounted  to 

*  See  "  The  Story  of  the  Moors  in  Spain,"  by  Stanley  Lane- Poole, 
New  York  and  London,   t886. 

\  "  The  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,"  by  Edward  Gib- 
bon, chap.  li.  Gibbon  compares  this  design  with  that  of  Mithridates 
to  march  from  the  Crimea  to  Rome,  or  with  that  of  Caesar  to  conquer 
the  East  and  return  home  by  the  North.  All  of  these  magnificent 
schemes  he  thinks  were  surpassed  by  the  successful  enterprise  of 
Ji^nnibal, 


DEATlt  OP'  WaUD. 


333 


him  the  achievements  which  had  resulted  in  the  com- 
plete conquest  of  Spain,  (then  called  Andalusia  after 
the  Vandals),  and  received  from  his  master  many 
thanks  for  his  services.  Further  reward  was  doubt- 
less to  come,  but  meantime  the  kalif  died.  Musa 
had  scarcely  finished  his  laborious  journey  to  the 
capital. 

Having  reigned  ten  years,  Walid  thus  died  at  the 
age  of  forty-two,  in  the  year  715,  after  a  life  of  per- 
sonal ease,  during  which  his  generals  had  filled  all 
the  surrounding  nations  with  the  fear  of  the  Moslem 
arms,  and  had  carried  his  renown  from  one  end  of 
the  ancient  world  to  the  other.  They  had  pene- 
trated the  region  beyond  the  Oxus,  bearing  their 
victorious  arms  almost  to  the  borders  of  China  (710 
A.D.),  and  promising  to  extend  the  domains  of  the 
kalif  through  that  country  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  as 
they  already  touched  the  Atlantic.  The  greatest 
glory  of  the  Omiades  had  been  gained. 


XXXIV. 

THE   STROKE    OF   THE   HAMMER. 

Though  Tarik  and  Musa  brought  the  greatest 
glory  to  the  Omiades,  the  fate  of  one  of  them,  who 
received  simple  thanks,  shows  again  the  impotence 
of  success  to  secure  good  fortune  ;  but  the  sadder 
treatment  that  Musa  suffered  emphasizes  it  still 
more.  When  that  general  reached  the  capital,  bring- 
ing after  him  long  trains  to  enrich  his  sovereign,  he 
found  that  his  actions  were  to  be  judged  by  a  new 
kalif. 

Soliman,  brother  of  Walid,  assumed  the  reins  of 
government  without  objection  by  any  one,  for  he 
was  reputed  to  be  endowed  with  ripe  judgment,  with 
a  good  heart,  and  a  character  unstained  ;  besides 
possessing  that  gift  of  eloquence  so  highly  es- 
teemed by  the  Saracens.  We  may  suppose  that  all 
the  facts  in  the  case  of  Musa  have  not  been  pre- 
served, for  this  clement  and  judicial  ruler  with  unex- 
plained haste  called  him  immediately  to  the  bar  to 
answer  to  certain  accusations  that  had  been  made 
against  him.  One  of  them  was  based  upon  his  false 
claim  to  have  discovered  the  table  of  Solomon. 

*'  Hast  thou  found,"  asked  the  kalif,  "any  people 
of  valor  on  the  peninsula?  " 

334 


M USA'S  REPORT.  335 

"  Yes,  my  lord,  more  valiant  than  I  can  tell  thee," 
replied  Musa. 

*'  And  what  hast  thou  to  say  about  the  Chris- 
tians?" 

^'  They  are  lions  in  their  castles,  eagles  on  horse- 
back, women  on  shipboard,  and  veritable  goats  for 
6ight  to  their  mountains  when  they  are  vanquished." 

''  And  the  Berbers  ?  " 

"■  They  resemble  the  Arabs  very  much  in  their  im- 
petuous mode  of  attack,  and  in  holding  out ;  like 
our  nation,  they  are  patient,  sober,  and  hospitable  ; 
but  they  are  the  most  faithless  people  in  the  world; 
neither  word  nor  oath  is  sacred  among  them." 

"  What  about  the  Franks  ?  " 

"  They  cannot  be  counted  for  multitude  ;  they  are 
prompt  to  attack,  and  brave  in  a  fight ;  but  timid 
^nd  easily  discouraged  in  retreat." 

"  And  have  you  defeated  these,  or  have  they  de- 
feated you  ?  " 

''  Never,  by  Allah,  has  one  of  my  banners  fled  be- 
fore them ;  my  soldiers  have  never  hesitated  to 
attack  them,  were  the  enemy  eighty  to  their  forty!  " 

Thus  the  aged  Musa  reported,*  and  yet  in  spite  of 
all,  the  kalif  ignominiously  doomed  him  to  stripes, 
stood  him  bare  beneath  the  scorching  sun  of  a  Da- 
mascus day,  and  laid  upon  him  a  fine  which  reduced 
him  to  poverty.  The  savage  punishment  was  meted 
also  upon  his  family,  and  they  were  all  executed, 
fined,  or  otherwise  made  to  feel  the  displeasure  of  the 
kalif. 

*  Gayangos  gives  the  report  more  fully  in  his  translation  of  Mak- 
kari,  vol.  i.,  page  297,  and  appendix  E,  page  Ixxxviii. 


33^  THE  STROItE  OF  THE  HAMMER. 

The  new  government  in  Spain  proved  more  moder- 
ate and  liberal  than  the  old,  and  the  people  rejoiced 
in  the  enjoyment  of  their  own  religion,  manners,  and 
habits;  and  the  privilege  of  being  governed  accord- 
ing to  the  laws  to  which  they  had  been  accustomed. 
The  old  treaties  between  the  Christians  and  their 
Saracenic  conquerors  inform  us  that  "  the  Christ- 
ians are  not  to  be  molested,  their  churches  are 
to  be  respected,  and  their  persons  preserved  invio- 
lable, on  the  sole  condition  that  they  remain  faith- 
ful to  the  government,  and  pay  the  tribute  agreed 
upon." 

The  new  kalif  now  seemed  to  wish  to  concentrate 
all  his  efforts  against  Constantinople,  and  made  ex- 
traordinary preparations  to  conquer  it.  He  de- 
spoiled the  mountains  of  Lebanon  to  obtain  cedar 
trees  to  construct  at  Alexandria  a  fleet  destined  to 
blockade  the  port,  while  at  the  same  time  a  land 
army  was  sent  thither  through  Asia  Minor.  In  the 
summer  of  716,  the  capital  of  the  empire  found  itself 
invested  by  a  host  of  the  most  implacable  warriors, 
— a  host  more  prodigious  than  it  had  ever  been  at- 
tacked by.  The  Greek  fire  with  which  the  same 
Saracenic  hordes  had  been  dispersed  in  the  days  of 
Moawia  L,  was  now  used  against  the  invading  ves- 
sels, with  success.  "  This  defeat  of  the  Saracens  by 
Leo  is  really  one  of  the  greatest  events  in  the  world's 
history,"  says  Mr.  Freeman,  ''  for  if  Constantinople 
had  been  taken  by  the  Mahometans  before  the  na- 
tions of  Western  Europe  had  at  all  grown  up,  it 
would  seem  as  if  the  Christian  religion  and  European 
civilization   must   have  been   swept  away  from  the 


OPERATIONS  AGAINST  CONSTANTINOPLE.    337 

earth."  *  Soliman  determined  that  his  personal 
presence  would  give  life  to  the  troops  and  set  out 
for  the  scene  of  action,  when  he  was  attacked  by  an 
indigestion  produced  by  intemperance  in  eating,  and 
suddenly  died,  leaving  his  throne  to  a  cousin,  who 
assumed  authority  as  Omar  II. 

It  was  in  October,  717,  that  the  new  kalif  began 
his  reign,  too  late  in  the  season  to  permit  him  to 
send  reinforcements  to  Constantinople  that  year ; 
but  in  the  ensuing  spring  a  fleet  was  despatched 
from  Egypt,  though  its  commanders  were  too  much 
afraid  of  the  terrible  Greek  fire  to  venture  near  the 
city,  and  anchored  ofT  the  coast  of  Bithynia.  The 
seamen  were  largely  men  who  had  once  been  under 
the  Roman  government,  and  they  now  determined 
to  desert  the  Moslem  cause.  They  stole  some  boats 
and  rowed  up  to  the  capital  of  the  empire,  crying, 
*'  Long  live  the  Emperor  of  the  Romans !  "  but 
their  reception  was  a  surprise :  the  Constantino- 
politans  either  suspected  them  as  spies  or  despised 
them  as  traitors,  and  launched  upon  them  such  vol- 
leys of  their  fearful  fire  that  the  boats  began  to  burn, 
and  the  deserters  jumping  into  the  water  were 
drowned  in  large  numbers.  The  Romans  pursued 
their  advantage,  and  burned  the  entire  fleet,  leaving 
the  remainder  of  the  besiegers  to  suffer  the  lingering 
pains  of  famine.  Every  avenue  of  escape  seemed  to 
be  cut  off,  and  the  ignominy  of  the  former  attempt 
upon  the  city  was  repeated.  The  kalif  was  over- 
whelmed by  this  failure  to  overcome  a  single  capital, 

*  Edward  A.  Freeman,  "  Outlines  of  History,"  chap.  vi.    Leo  III 
(the  Isaurian)  came  to  the  throne  in  March,  717. 


338  THE  STROKE  OF  THE  HAMMER. 

when  he  reflected  that  his  predecessors  had  van- 
quished kingdoms,  and  in  the  year  720  he  died.* 

A  brother  of  SoHman  now  succeeded  to  the  gov- 
ernment as  Yezid  II.,  in  accordance  of  an  agreement 
made  by  the  two  cousins  Omar  and  SoHman.  His 
immediate  sohcitude  was  regarding  an  insurrection 
against  the  kahfate  by  the  governor  of  Korassan, 
who  aspired  to  independence  and  had  involved  in 
his  scheme  many  inhabitants  of  Irak.  Yezid  sent  a 
force  against  the  insurgents,  and  a  battle  was  pre- 
cipitated near  Bassora,  in  which  the  pretender  was 
killed,  and  the  movement  thus  stopped.  A  war  in 
Armenia  followed,  which  was  not  concluded  until 
the  following  reign.  These  movements  are  the  only 
ones  to  which  the  historian  Tabari  gives  attention. 

Much  more  interesting  to  us  are  the  events  which 
occurred  on  the  peninsula  of  Spain.  There  the  Sara- 
cens, not  satisfied  with  their  former  achievements, 
began  to  look  towards  the  rich  plains  of  France  on 
the  other  side  of  the  Pyrenees.  It  was  during  the 
period  of  the  rois  faineants^  those  pleasure-loving  and 
do-nothing  kings ;  and  the  representative  of  the 
kalif  in  Spain  thought  that  he  might  extend  still 
farther  the  domains  of  his  master  by  reaching  over 
the  mountains. 

Accordingly,  in  721,  the  armies  of  the  Saracens 
precipitated   themselves   upon   the   region   of  Aqui- 

*  The  immediate  cause  of  the  death  of  this  intemperate  sovereign 
was,  however,  an  indigestion.  A  Syrian  Christian  made  him  a  pres- 
ent of  two  great  baskets  of  eggs  and  figs,  and,  in  his  gluttony,  he  ate 
them  both  one  morning,  adding  to  the  mass  a  large  number  of  grapes 
from  Taif,  a  quantity  of  marrow  and  sugar,  a  kid,  six  fowls,  and 
seventy  pomegranates, — veritably  a  savage  repast  ! 


INCURSIONS  INTO   I^kANCE.  339 

tania,  then  ruled  by  King  Eudes,  formerly  Duke  of 
Toulouse,  and  laid  siege  to  Narbonne,  an  ancient 
town  not  far  from  the  sea,  which  had  before  been 
devastated  by  the  Goths.  The  Arabian  writers  say 
in  their  exaggerated  language  that  the  Christian 
troops  were  so  numerous  that  the  dust  raised  in 
their  movements  obscured  the  light  of  the  sun  ;  but 
the  Saracen  commander  called  to  mind  the  faith  of 
the  Koran,  *'  If  Allah  be  for  us,  who  can  be  against 
us  ?  "  Terrible  was  the  onslaught  when  the  antag- 
onists came  together  ;  but  in  the  midst  of  the  strife 
the  leader  of  the  Arabs  was  stricken  down  ;  his 
forces  were  thrown  into  confusion,  and  the  only  re- 
source for  them  was  to  retire,  leaving  the  field  cov- 
ered with  the  bodies  of  their  slain.  Abd  er  Rah- 
man, the  governor  of  Spain,  came  to  the  rescue  and 
led  his  defeated  troops  back  beyond  the  Pyrenees. 

In  the  year  724,  Yezid  II.  died,  and  his  brother 
Hisham  became  kalif.  Under  him  the  incursions 
into  France  were  renewed,  Carcasonne,  even  now 
surrounded  by  the  strong  walls  that  are  said  to 
have  resisted  the  onslaughts  of  the  Goths,  was 
taken  and  given  over  to  all  the  fury  of  an  unrelent- 
ing soldiery  ;  Nismes  opened  its  gates  to  the  onrush- 
ing  hordes,  and  gave  hostages  for  its  loyalty ;  gold 
beyond  estimate  was  wrung  from  the  conquered 
towns,  until  the  death  of  a  leader  of  the  Saracens 
caused  a  slight  respite  in  725.  It  was  but  tempo- 
rary, however,  for  a  new  commander  came  to  the 
front,  and  a  wilder  fury  inspired  his  soldiery.  Then 
the  Moslems  spread  themselves  everywhere,  feeling 
confident  that  "  Allah  had  put  terror  into  the  hearts 


340  THE  STROKE  OF  THE  HAMMER. 

of  all  the  Christians,  so  that  if  one  of  them  showed 
himself,  it  was  only  to  ask  mercy."  Along  the  beau- 
tiful Rhine  they  rushed  ;  throughout  the  valley  of 
the  Rhone ;  at  Vienne,  at  Lyons,  at  Macon,  at  Cha- 
lons, at  Dijon,  they  left  their  marks  in  the  shape  of 
the  tottering  walls  of  abbeys  and  churches ;  through 
the  region  watered  by  the  Loire,  they  ran,  appar- 
ently wandering  hither  and  thither  with  no  plan  but 
to  sack  and  rob  wherever  they  could  find  anything 
to  attract  their  cupidity.  France  was  in  a  state  of  an- 
archy, but  the  Saracens  were  not  wise  enough  to  do 
more  than  ravage ;  they  found  themselves  unable  to 
effect  durable  conquests  such  as  they  had  made  in 
other  lands.  One  leader  followed  another  in  rapid  suc- 
cession, each  anxious  first  of  all  to  make  his  private 
fortune,  after  the  fashion  of  the  Roman  governors, 
— the  Verreses  and  the  Catilines  of  ancient  times 
When  was  the  terrible  scourge  to  end?  History 
soon  tells  us. 

In  the  year  732,  that  Abd  er  Rahman  who  had 
led  his  defeated  troops  over  the  Pyrenees  eleven 
years  before,  ventured  again  to  launch  them  forth, 
probably  to  gather  up  as  much  spoil  as  he  could 
and  then  retreat  to  the  more  congenial  South.  He 
hastened  by  rapid  marches  towards  the  city  of  Tours, 
ravaging  the  country,  placing  the  towns  under  heavy 
tribute,  pillaging  the  shrines  of  religion,  and  loading 
himself  down  with  an  increasing  amount  of  spoil. 

Count  Eudes  feared  to  meet  the  enemy  again 
alone,  and  sent  for  help  to  Charles,  Duke  of  Austra- 
sia,  who,  as  Mayor  of  the  Palace,  was  then  ruling  the 
land  of  the  feeble  Chilperic  H.  and  controlling  that 


THE  BATTLE   NEAR   TOURS,  34 1 

do-nothing  prince  himself.  He  represented  the 
shame  that  would  come  to  France  if  it  should  al- 
low its  mailed  soldiers  to  be  defied  by  an  army  of 
almost  naked  Moslems.  Charles  replied  that  their 
enthusiasm  would  be  less  when  they  had  laden  them- 
selves with  booty,  and  when  rivalry  among  their 
leaders  had  divided  their  counsels. 
Nor  were  the  Saracens 

"  Of  victory  less  assured,  by  long  success 

Elate,  and  proud  of  that  o'erwhelming  strength, 
Which,  surely,  they  believed,  as  it  had  rolled 
Thus  far  unchecked,  would  roll  victorious  on, 
Till  like  the  Orient,  the  subjected  West 
Should  bow  in  reverence  at  Mohammed's  name  ; 
And  pilgrims  from  remotest  Arctic  shores 
Tread  with  religious  feet  the  burning  sands 
Of  Araby  and  Mecca's  stony  soil." 

**  Africa  had  poured 

Fresh  shoals  upon  the  coast  of  wretched  Spain  ; 
Lured  from  their  hungry  deserts  to  the  scene 
Of  spoil,  like  vultures  to  the  battle-field, 
Fierce,  unrelenting,  habited  in  crime." 

Both  sides  were  confident,  but  it  appears  that  the 
Saracens  were  surprised,  when  they  encountered  un- 
expectedly the  forces  that  Count  Eudes  and  Count 
Charles  had  collected,  spread  out  on  a  plain  between 
the  towns  of  Tours  and  Poitiers.  The  Prankish  army 
was  fresh  from  victory  over  the  barbarians  in  Ger- 
many, but  it  beheld  before  it  several  thousand  Ber- 
bers and  Arabs,  accustomed  likewise  to  victory,  and 
expecting  now  the  bountiful  spoils  of  a  rich  land. 
The  Saracen  leader,  unwilling  to  meet  his  enemy  on 
the  plain,  retreated  to  a  more  commanding  position, 


342  THE  STROKE  OF  THE  HAMMER. 

and  then  for  several  days  the  two  great  masses  of 
men  looked  each  other  in  the  face.  The  generals 
did  not  know  that  upon  the  result  of  the  combat 
depended  the  fate  of  the  Western  World,  but  they 
must  have  felt  that  the  position  was  one  of  greatest 
moment,  and  each  wished  to  make  his  soldiers  famil- 
iar with  the  appearance  at  least  of  the  enemy  they 
were  to  meet. 

The  impulsive  Saracen  ventured  the  first  move, 
thrusting  a  squadron  of  Numidian  cavalry  upon  the 
battalion  of  the  Franks  bristling  with  steel.  The 
brave  and  agile  sons  of  the  forest  came  with  a  ter- 
rible shock  against  the  immovable  wall  formed  by 
infantry,  and  hour  after  hour  through  almost  all  of 
the  day  rank  after  rank  of  the  Africans  fell  before 
"cheir  well-drilled  antagonists,  until  finally  they  were 
forced  to  quit  the  field  in  disorder  and  hasten  to  the 
protection  of  their  booty.  In  vain  did  Abd  er  Rah- 
man try  to  stem  the  torrent  of  retreat ;  the  powerful 
army  of  Duke  Charles  rained  blows  like  those  of  a 
sledge-hammer  upon  the  unarmed  Numidians,  and 
his  soldiers,  reminding  themselves  of  their  conflicts 
with  the  Northern  barbarians,  fought  with  equal  des- 
peration, until  finally  the  Saracen  leader  himself  was 
killed,  and  the  day  was  lost. 

The  onward  march  of  the  Moslems  towards  the 
north  was  stopped  ;  and  the  rising  sun  the  next  day 
shone  upon  a  deserted  camp,  which  the  Franks  cau- 
tiously explored,  only  to  find  here  and  there  a  relic 
stolen  from  some  chapel  or  a  little  spoil  from  a  pri- 
vate castle.  The  Saracens  were  gone  ;  excepting  that, 
according  to  the  exaggerations  that  were  long  cur- 


fll,lll 


}  \U 


« 


n 


mi 


iliiiii! 


344  THE  STROKE  OF  THE  HAMMER. 

rent,  the  dead  bodies  of  more  than  three  hundred 
thousand  were  left  on  the  field.  Duke  Charles  has 
ever  since  that  day  been  known  as  Charles  Martel, 
on  account  of  the  hammer-like  strokes  that  he  poured 
upon  his  enemy.  The  Christian  losses  were  set  down 
by  the  partial  monks  at  fifteen  hundred,  but  that  no 
such  disparity  existed,  is  made  evident  from  the  fact 
that  Charles  Martel  thought  best  not  to  follow  up 
his  success  ;  but  permitted  the  Saracens  to  make 
good  their  escape,  and  allowed  his  own  allies  to 
return  to  their  native  German  woods."^ 

The  Saracens  themselves  were  unwilling  to  make 
further  efforts  to  invade  the  land  of  the  Franks,  be- 
cause news  reached  them  that  their  conquests  in 
Africa  were  threatened,  and  that  there  were  also 
alarming  risings  among  the  Eastern  peoples,  who  had 
become  restive  under  the  tribute  to  which  they  were 
subjected.  The  governor  of  Africa  therefore  sent  a 
general  to  Spain  ordered  to  collect  the  remnant  of 
the  Saracenic  army  and  bring  it  across  the  Straits  of 
Gibraltar.  The  Moslems  acknowledged  themselves 
beaten  not  only  in  word  but  in  deed,  and  gave  up 
further  attempts  upon  Frankish  territory.  Thus  they 
left  Charles  Martel  free  to  consolidate  his  power,  and 
to  transmit  it  to  his  son  Pepin,  through  whom  it  de- 
scended to  his  greater  grandson,  Charlemagne. 

While  these  momentous  operations  had  progressed 
in  the  west,  Hisham  had  made  attempts  to  advance 

*  The  historian  Gibbon  gives  an  account  of  the  decisive  battle  of 
Tours  (called  by  the  French  the  battle  of  Poitiers)  in  his  fifty-second 
chapter.  See  also  "  The  Fifteen  Decisive  Battles  of  the  World,"  by 
Sir  Edward  S.  Creasy,  and  "  Magna  Charta  Stories,"  edited  by  th$ 
present  author.     (Boston  and  London,  1882.) 


•       THE  MYSTERIOUS  KAZARS,  345 

in  the  direction  of  Constantinople,  but  had  been 
obliged  to  return  in  shame  to  Damascus.  A  few 
years  afterwards,  he  attacked  the  town  of  Nicaea,  the 
metropoHs  of  Bithynia,  which  was  protected  by  walls 
fifteen  or  twenty  feet  in  thickness  and  thirty  or  forty 
feet  in  height.     Here,  too,  he  was  unsuccessful. 

After  these  struggles,  there  followed  disturbances 
in  Armenia,  where  a  powerful  race  from  beyond  the 
Caucasus  had  fallen  upon  the  possessions  of  the 
Moslems.  These  barbarians  were  known  as  Ka- 
zars.*  At  first  they  ravaged  the  border-lands  with 
success ;  then  they  were  repulsed  ;  again,  they  gained 
a  victory  over  the  Saracens ;  and  thus,  like  the  weav- 
er's shuttle,  victory  was  thrown  from  side  to  side. 
The  year  at  which  these  disturbances  began  is  not 
determined,  but  they  were  renewed  in  728,  when  the 
king  of  the  Kazars  advanced  to  the  very  gates  of 
Mosul  in  Mesopotamia,  not  far  from  the  ruins  of 
ancient  Nineveh.  From  this  point  they  were  obliged 
to  retreat,  and  they  crossed  the  Caucasus  in  safety. 
A  permanent  colony  of  Saracens  was  established  as 
a  protection  against  further  inroads.  The  next  year 
the  troops  of  the  kalif  penetrated  the  country  of  the 

*  Much  controversy  has  been  waged  over  the  origin  of  the  Kazars. 
They  are  supposed  to  have  been  Scythians.  From  remote  antiquity 
they  dwelt  in  a  region  north  of  the  Caspian,  whence,  in  the  sixth  cen- 
tury, they  made  terrible  incursions  into  Persia,  even  after  the  defiles 
of  Daghestan  had  been  closed  by  the  wall  and  the  iron  gates  of  Ko- 
bad,  the  father  of  Chosroes,  in  507  A.D.  Gibbon  describes  this  wall 
as  being  formed  of  stones  "seven  feet  thick,  twenty-one  feet  ia 
length,"  framed  without  cement  into  a  wall  running  more  than 
"three  hundred  miles  from  the  shores  of  Derbend  over  the  hil  s 
and  through  the  valleys  of  Daghestan  and  Georgia." — "  Decline  and 
Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,"  chapter  xl.,  par.  vi. 


346 


THE  STROKE  OF  THE  HAMMER. 


Kazars  without  effecting  any  thing  of  importance. 
In  731,  the  Kazars  made  another  invasion,  but  were 
speedily  forced  back  again.  Thus  the  battle  waged 
among  the  half-conquered  subjects  to  the  north,  un- 
til, in  743,  the  kalif  died,  and  his  dominions  which 
he  had  not  increased,  fell  to  his  nephew,  Walid  II., 
who  reigned  but  fifteen  months,  and  was  followed 
by  Yezid  III.,  who  died  of  the  plague  after  a  reign 
of  five  months.  Ibrahim  followed,  but  was  deposed 
at  the  end  of  three  months. 


XXXV. 

THE   BLACK   FLAG   OF   ABBAS. 

The  conquering  career  of  the  Saracens  had  come 
to  an  end.  The  kahf  whose  troops  had  been  over- 
thrown in  their  pride  by  Charles  Martel,  though  he 
did  not  materially  decrease  the  extent  of  the  domin- 
ions received  from  his  predecessor,  handed  them 
over  to  his  nephew  without  addition.  Walid  II. 
was  not  at  all  the  man  to  impart  new  life  to  the 
military  movements  ;  he  had  none  of  the  qualities  of 
a  successful  ruler  ;  and  as  he  had  been  away  from  the 
capital,  he  assumed  the  supreme  authority  ignorant 
of  the  duties  it  involved,  and  liable  to  make  fatal 
mistakes  at  every  step.  He  was  lazy,  indisposed  to 
affairs,  and  gave  himself  up  to  unrestrained  indul- 
gence, carrying  his  dogs  with  him  to  the  sacred  soil 
of  Mecca,  and  even  drinking  there  the  forbidden 
wines.  Thus  his  actions  estranged  his  people  from 
him,  and  when,  in  743,  his  cousin  aspired  to  the  of^ce 
of  kalif,  the  citizens  of  Damascus  opened  their  gates 
and  received  him  as  Yezid  III.  Walid  at  last  seemed 
to  obtain  the  mastery  of  himself,  and  fought  a  battle 
in  which,  though  unsuccessful,  he  won  some  admira- 
tion for  his  valor. 

Ten  years  of  civil  war  followed ;  the  death  of  Wa- 


34^        THE   BLACK  FLAG   OF  ABBAS 

lid  (in  744)  not  serving  at  all  to  quiet  the  disturb- 
ances that  his  ill  conduct  had  excited.  Africa 
escaped  from  the  kalifate  ;  Spain  was  rent  with 
discord  ;  and  above  all,  Korassan  was  filled  with  in- 
sidious emissaries  of  the  faction  that  bore  the  name 
of  Ali,  stirring  up  hatred  against  all  the  family  of 
the  Omiades.  To  these  disturbing  elements  must  be 
added  the  most  powerful  of  all,  that  of  the  descend- 
ants of  the  uncle  of  Mohammed,  Abbas,  son  of  Abd 
al  Muttalib,  known  in  history  as  the  Abbassides. 
Their  grounds  for  claiming  the  kalifate  were  not 
so  strong  as  those  of  the  Alyites,  but  they  them- 
selves  were  more  forcible,  and  they  were  united  in 
action,  which  the  Alyites  were  not. 

At  the  time  of  the  troubles  in  Africa  and  Spain,  in 
the  reign  of  Yezid  II.,  and  Hisham,  the  Alyites  and 
the  Abbassides  sent  emissaries  secretly  throughout 
Korassan,  preaching  discontent  and  mysteriously 
bidding  the  people  to  expect  a  new  apostle  espe- 
cially sent  by  Allah,  who  should  be  of  the  blood  of 
the  prophet.  Hisham  had  heard  of  these  mission- 
aries, and  had  put  the  governors  of  Irak  and  Koras- 
san on  their  guard  against  them.  There  was  now  a 
revolt  at  Homs  (Emesa),  and  Palestine  rose  on  pre- 
text of  revenging  the  death  of  Walid  II.  In  this 
disturbed  condition  of  the  kalifate,  Yezid  III.  died. 
His  brother,  Ibrahim  (744),  was  soon  overcome  by  a 
grandson  of  Merwan  I.,  then  governor  of  Irak,  who 
ascended  the  throne  as  Merwan  II.  (Nov.,  744). 

Hardly  had  Merwan  been  saluted  as  kalif  in  the 
mosque  at  Damascus  when  a  new  revolt  occurred. 
He  had  retired  to  Harran,  which  he  made  his  resi- 


A   REVOLT  AT  DAMASCUS. 


349 


dence,  when  Horns,  just  north  of  that  place,  though 
it  had  assisted  in  raising  him  to  the  throne,  pro- 
nounced his  deposition.  Merwan  intended  to  visit 
immediate  and  condign  punishment  upon  the  town  ; 
but  he  heard  that  a  revolt  had  broken  out  almost 
under  the  walls  of  Damascus ;  in  fact,  he  found  him- 
self in  the  midst  of  uprisings  which  demanded  the 
most   active    efforts   to   repress,    and    he    rose    so 


COURT  OF  GREAT  MOSQUE  OF  DAMASCUS. 

completely  to  the  situation  that  he  was  nicknamed 
from  his  agility  ''  the  Ass  of  Irak." 

An  apparent  peace  followed,  and  for  two  years  it 
seemed  as  though  the  Omiades  might  hold  their 
power  a  little  longer ;  but  the  Alyites  and  the 
Abbassides  were  constant  in  their  secret  labors,  and 
under  the  lead  of  masters  of  intrigue,  were  making 
sure  of  every  step.     By  the  year  745,  they  began  to 


350  THE   BLACK  FLAG   OF  ABBAS. 

ask  whether  the  time  had  not  arrived  for  throwing 
off  the  mask.  The  governor  of  Korassan  wrote  to 
Merwan  :  ''  I  see  some  sparks  scintillating  under  the 
ashes,  and  from  them  a  great  fire  may  be  kindled  ; 
let  us  hasten  to  extinguish  these  sparks,  if  we  wish 
to  avoid  the  conflagration  :  why  must  I  ask  if  the 
children  of  Omia  are  awake,  or  if  a  leaden  sleep 
shuts  their  eyes  ?  "  Merwan  sent  orders  for  rigorous 
treatment  of  all  persons  guilty  of  sedition  ;  but  it 
was  too  late. 

The  conspirators  now  publicly  announced  at 
Merv  the  beginning  of  a  new  dynasty,  and  no  prayers, 
promises,  or  reasonings  were  sufficient  to  cause 
them  to  retrace  their  steps.  The  kalif  trembled 
when  he  heard  this  news  from  a  province  upon 
which  he  had  so  greatly  depended  ;  whose  brave 
and  strong  inhabitants  had  furnished  his  armies  their 
most  indomitable  soldiers  ;  and  when  he  reflected 
that  the  battle-cry  of  this  revolt  was  ''  the  Family  of 
the  Prophet !  "  he  awakened  himself  a  second  time. 
-Ibrahim,  the  leader  of  the  movement,  was  captured 
and  imprisoned  at  Harran  ;  but  his  lieutenant,  Abu 
Muslim,  the  real  heart  and  soul  of  the  insurrection, 
pressed  on  successfully  ;  captured  Merv,  and  called 
to  his  banner  all  who  were  willing  to  unite  in  a 
strong  blow  at  the  kalif  in  the  centre  of  his  power. 
Merwan  made  his  captive  suffer  for  his  lieutenant's 
success,  and  put  him  to  death,  but  Ibrahim  bequeath- 
ed his  vengeance  to  his  brother,  Abu  Abbas,  called 
el  Saffah,  the  Bloody.  In  the  autumn  of  749,  Abbas 
appeared  in  the  capital  of  Korassan,  and  was  an^ 
nounced   as  the  successor  of  the  prophet ;  he  then 


THE  DECISIVE  BATTIE  OF  THE  ZAB.  35  I 

took  possession  of  the  palace,  unrolled  the  black  flag 
of  his  family,  and  called  upon  all  the  faithful  to  join 
in  reconquering  the  heritage  of  Mohammed. 

Merwan,  with  his  usual  agility,  was  on  the  march 
for  Korassan  with  an  army,  at  the  first  news  of  the 
revolt  ;  the  two  claimants  for  the  supreme  power 
over  a  region  extending  from  the  Indus  to  the 
Atlantic,  found  themselves  face  to  face  on  the  banks 
of  the  river  Zab  (in  January,  750),  some  thirty  miles 
southeast  of  Nineveh  and  Mosul,  not  far  from 
Arbela,  celebrated  as  the  scene  of  the  last  great 
battle  between  Darius  the  Mede  and  Alexander  the 
Great,  B.C.  33 1."^  Battle  was  joined  at  mid-day,  and 
continued  until  the  hour  of  prayer  in  the  afternoon. 
The  enthusiasm  of  the  Saracens  seemed  to  have 
deserted  the  Omiades,  and  though  Merwan  per- 
formed deeds  of  great  valor,  his  men  were  simply  an 
inert  mass  ;  they  carried  out  the  orders  badly,  and 
the  enemy  profited  by  each  evidence  of  indecision. 
The  fight  was  renewed  the  next  day  ;  but  at  last  the 
troops  of  the  Abbassides  gained  the  advantage,  and 
the  soldiers  of  the  kalif  sought  to  recross  the  river, 
flying  in  disorder.  Many  were  cut  down  by  the 
enemy,  large  numbers  were  drowned  in  the  Zab,  and 
the  cause  of  the  Omiades  was  forever  lost.  Merwan 
himself  took  to  flight.  At  Harran  he  found  his 
wives  and  children,  and  with  them  went  to  Kinnes- 
rin,  but  he  did  not  stop  there.  He  was  robbed  of 
portions  of  his  goods  on  the  way  towards  Emesa, 
from  which  place  he  hastened  to  Damascus ;  but 
the  gates  of  the  capital  of  his  dynasty  were  closed 

*  See  •'  The  Story  of  Alexander's  Empire,"  chapter  iii. 


352  THE   BLACK  FLAG   OF  ABBAS. 

against  him,  and  he  continued  on  to  the  southward, 
not  stopping  until  he  had  reached  the  delta  of  the 
Nile,  where  he  was  overtaken  and  decapitated  by 
soldiers  of  Abul  Abbas. 

The  assassination  of  Merwan  was  the  beginning  of 
a  butchery  by  Abbas  which  gave  good  ground  for 
his  name  el  Saffah.  He  had  overthrown  the  family 
of  the  Omiades,  and  now  he  determined  to  cut  it  out 
root  and  branch.  To  this  end,  he  ordered  the  entire 
connection  executed,  in  a  general  proscription — sons, 
grandsons,  friends,  were  ordered  to  indiscriminate 
butchery,  of  which  the  details  are  too  heart-sickening 
for  description.  Vengeance  did  not  stop  with  the 
living;  the  funereal  marbles  that  stood  over  the  re- 
mains of  the  dead  were  broken  down,  ashes  and  bones 
were  torn  from  their  resting-places  and  scattered. 
This  done.  Abbas  felt  secure  of  his  throne. 

In  spite  of  these  desperate  efforts  on  the  part  of 
the  new  kalif  to  root  out  of  the  world  every 
relict  of  the  former  dynasty,  there  remained  one  at 
least,  Abd  er  Rahman,  son  of  Moawia,  who  managed  to 
escape  to  Egypt.  There,  avoiding  inhabited  regions, 
he  trusted  himself  to  the  mercies  of  the  wandering 
Berbers  of  the  desert,  and  gained  their  respect  by  his 
noble  origin,  but  especially  by  his  princely  appear- 
ance and  accomplishments,  his  courage  and  manly 
virtues.  Information  regarding  him  reached  Spain^ 
then  rent  by  discord,  and,  after  several  years  of  vi- 
cissitude, Abd  er  Rahman  was  called  to  become 
kalif  at  Cordova.  Thus  Abul  Abbas  failed  to  gain 
control  of  the  entire  dominion  that  the  Omiades  had 
ruled,  and  a  representative  of  his  mortal  enemies  gov- 


AFTER   THE    VICTORY.  353 

erned  a  large  portion  of  the  now  permanently  di- 
vided kalifate.  His  reign  of  thirty-two  years  was  a 
constant  series  of  struggles,  from  all  of  which  he 
came  forth  victorious,  forcing  even  his  enemies  to 
admire  his  success.  It  was  during  the  period 
covered  by  this  long  reign  that  the  defeat  of  Charle- 
magne occurred  at  Roncesveaux  (a.D.  778),  upon 
which  balladists  have  built  the  romantic  tales  of 
Roland  and  his  sword  Durando,  of  Ganelon  and  his 
despicable  treason. 

The  first  solicitude  of  Abbas  after  he  had  obliter- 
ated the  family  of  his  opponents  was  to  secure  the 
kalifate  to  his  own  tribe  in  succession,  and  in  his 
efforts  to  accomplish  this  he  showed  considerable 
misdirected  sagacity.  He  determined  to  make 
the  interest  of  the  family  of  Abbas  one,  and  to 
this  end  divided  the  realm  into  several  parts, 
giving  each  one  to  a  different  member  of  the 
family.  Thus  to  Mansur,  his  brother,  destined 
to  be  his  successor,  he  confided  the  government 
of  Irak  or  Mesopotamia  ;  to  an  uncle  he  gave  Yemen  ; 
to  another  (Abdalla  ben  Ali,  ben  Abdalla,  ben  Abbas), 
Syria  ;  to  another,  Bassora ;  to  another,  Egypt  ;  and 
to  Abu  Muslim,  to  whom  he  owed  his  authority,  he 
assigned  Korassan.  A  nephew  was  stationed  at 
Kufa,  and  another  relative  at  Mosul.  Africa  and 
Spain  gave  him  no  trouble,  for  they  had  been  taken 
from  him.  Having  made  these  arrangements  for  the 
permanence  of  his  dynasty,  Abul  Abbas  died  at  An- 
bar,  on  the  Euphrates,  in  the  year  754,  at  the  early 
age  of  thirty-three. 


XXXVI. 


BY   BAGDAD  S    SHRINES. 


The  dynasty  that  Abul  Abbas  had  now  founded 
was  destined  to  continue  for  five  hundred  years,  and 
in  glory  and  riches  to  surpass  by  far  any  thing  that 
the  Omiades  had  dreamed  of.  Mansur  {"  the  Victori- 
ous"), brother  of  Abbas,  who  was  designated  by  him 
as  his  successor,  had  been  governor  of  Irak,  but  at 
the  moment  of  the  kaHf's  death  he  was  engaged  in 
the  performance  of  the  pilgrimage  to  Mecca  in  com- 
pany with  that  founder  of  the  dynasty,  Muslim,  who 
wished  to  return  thanks  to  Allah  for  his  goodness  in 
giving  him  success.  It  was  his  fortune  to  be  the 
first  to  salute  Mansur  as  kalif,  and  his  powerful  ex- 
ample was  immediately  followed  by  those  pilgrims 
who  surrounded  him. 

At  the  head  of  the  religious  troops  Mansur  then 
took  up  the  journey  towards  Irak,  but  hardly  had 
he  come  to  the  borders  of  his  own  territory  when  he 
was  informed  that  the  means  which  Abbas  had 
taken  to  strengthen  the  family  feeling  and  make  the 
dynasty  stable  had  resulted  in  giving  him  a  formidable 
rival.  His  uncle,  Abdalla,  who  had  been  the  first  to 
adopt  the  black  colors  which  became  those  of  the 
dynasty,  and  who  had  been  rewarded  for  his  services 


MUSLIM  AT  NISIBIS.  355 

against  Merwan  by  the  government  of  Syria, 
claimed  the  supreme  authority,  and  was  then  on  his 
way  from  Damascus  towards  that  portion  of  Irak 
in  which  the  Abbassides  had  held  court. 

Muslim  was  assigned  the  difficult  task  of  facing  the 
rebellion,  and  the  two  former  friends  met  in  deadly 
struggle  on  the  banks  of  Mygdonius,  at  primeval 
Nisibis,  that  unfortunate  city  which  had  been  in  for- 
mer ages  tossed  back  and  forth  between  the  Romans 
and  their  Eastern  enemies.  Long  was  victory  doubt- 
ful, but  finally  it  perched  on  the  banners  of  Muslim, 
and  the  army  of  the  revolters  was  utterly  scattered. 
Abdalla  himself  found  safety  for  a  while  in  flight. 
Again  had  Muslim  accomplished  the  greatest  service 
for  the  Abbassides ;  but  his  success  proved  his  ruin. 
The  kalif  offered  him  the  government  of  Syria,  thus 
made  vacant  ;  but  he  declined  to  remove  from  Koras- 
san,  in  the  strong  mountain  fastnesses  of  which  he 
loved  to  roam  or  rest,  where  all  the  inhabitants  were 
united  in  supporting  him.  The  kalif  seemed  sus- 
picious of  the  successful  champion  of  his  cause,  and 
called  him  peremptorily  to  court.  After  some  delay, 
Muslim  obeyed,  only  to  be  met  by  feigned  cordiality, 
and  to  be  pierced  by  the  daggers  of  hired  assassins. 
In  the  year  754,  the  mutilated  body  of  the  great 
founder  of  the  new  dynasty  was  cast  contumeliously 
into  the  Tigris  ! 

Spain  and  Africa  having  been  lost  to  the  kalifate, 
Mansur  recurred  to  that  oft-repeated  scheme  of  his 
predecessors,  and  pushed  his  armies  towards  the 
domains  of  the  Roman  emperors,  sending  his  first 
troops    to    capture    Melitene    (Malatia),   in  Eastern 


35^  BY  BAGDAD'S  SHRINES. 

Cappadocia,  which  was  at  the  time  a  centre  of  im- 
portance. Semiramis  is  said  to  have  laid  the  founda- 
tions of  the  place  ;  Trajan  had  made  it  a  great  city ; 
Justinian  had  surrounded  it  with  new  walls  ;  and  it 
was  celebrated  as  the  site  of  victory  gained  by  the 
Romans  over  the  Persians  in  577.  The  stronghold 
was  taken  and  disarmed,  a  garrison  of  four  thousand 
Saracens  was  placed  in  command  of  it,  and  the  vic- 
torious forces  of  the  kalif  pushed  on  through  Cilicia 
to  Pamphylia,  where  a  Roman  army  was  met  and 
cut  to  pieces  on  the  river  Melas.  Here  the  advance 
was  stopped  by  the  news  of  a  fresh  rising  in  Koras- 
san,  among  followers  of  Abu  Muslim  who  belonged  to 
the  Karejites,  but  were  known  as  Rawendites  from 
the  fact  that  they  inhabited  the  city  of  Rawend. 
Their  tenets  are  doubtful. 

Mansur  made  the  pilgrimage  to  Mecca  in  the  year 
557,  purchased  some  of  the  buildings  which  then 
encroached  upon  the  mosque,  and  enlarged  the  en- 
closure. He  then  returned  to  Irak  by  way  of  Medina, 
visiting  on  the  way  the  tomb  of  Mohammed  and 
the  city  of  Jerusalem,  and  took  up  his  residence  at 
Hashimeya,  not  far  from  Kufa.  Here  it  was  that 
the  Rawendites  made  their  demonstration  ;  but  they 
were  quickly  overcome  and  their  leaders  thrown  into 
prison.  This  act  of  repression  led  to  a  more  for- 
midable rising ;  the  prisons  were  attacked,  the  cap- 
tives delivered,  and  the  kalif  actually  besieged  in  his 
palace.  Mansur  took  the  lead  in  the  attempt  to 
drive  the  insurgents  away,  placing  himself  in  great 
danger,  and  they  were  finally  overcome  and  com- 
pletely dispersed.     This   experience   disgusted    the 


THE  NEW  CAPITAL.  3$; 

kalif  with  Hashimeya  and  its  inhabitants,  and  as  he 
was  equally  unwilHng  to  trust  himself  to  the  Kufans, 
in  whose  city  he  would  otherwise  have  enjoyed 
living,  he  decided  to  establish  a  capital  on  a  new 
foundation.  The  spot  which  he  chose  was  not  far 
from  that  Medain,  of  which  we  have  read  so  much 
in  the  earlier  portion  of  our  story,  but  a  little  north 
of  it,  on  the  Tigris.  Giving  it  the  name  Bagdad, 
and  calling  it  Dar  al  Salaam,  the  City  of  Peace,  he 
erected  his  palace  in  the  centre,  building  about  it 
circular  walls,  in  order  that  it  might  be  approached 
from  all  quarters  equally  well.  The  waters  of  the 
Tigris  were  carried  around  the  ramparts  by  means 
of  a  ditch,  and  a  hundred  and  sixty  towers  served  as 
further  protection.  Every  art  of  the  architect  and 
the  designer,  of  the  artist  in  stone,  of  the  painter  and 
gilder,  was  made  tributary  to  the  grandeur  of  a  city 
which  was  intended  to  embody  something  of  the 
magnificence  of  a  dynasty  that  counted  its  wealth  by 
the  hundred  million,  and  hesitated  at  no  outlay  that 
would  make  a  display.  Of  the  scenes  of  delight  that 
Mansur  created  at  Bagdad,  it  might  be  said,  as  the 
poet  *  has  written  of  another  Oriental  prince's 
pavilion  : 

"  A  pillared  avenue  of  stately  palms 

Slept  in  the  sun  ;  a  fountain  rose  and  fell, 
Breaking  the  silver  surface  at  its  base  ; 
Goldfish  like  sunken  ingots  lay  in  heaps 
Beneath  the  fountain's  rain  ;  beside  its  rim. 
Dipping  his  long  bill  in  a  lotus  cup, 
A  black  crane  stooped  ;  between  the  silent  palms 
A  length  of  silken  carpet  was  unrolled  ; 

*  Richard  Henry  Stoddard. 


358  BV  BAGDAD'S  SHRINES. 

A  white  gazelle  dangled  a  silver  chain, 

Picking  its  way  through  tufts  of  broidered  flowers. 

Flowers  of  all  hues  and  odors  strewed  the  ground  ; 

Roses,  fire-red  ;  large  tulips,  cups  of  flame  ; 

Banks  of  snow-lilies,  turning  dew  to  pearls, 

And  rolling  rivers  of  anemones. 

Broad  meadows  stretched  afar,  wherein,  dim-seen 

Through  winking  haze,  the  still  Euphrates  lay, — 

The  great  Euphrates,  fresh  from  Babylon." 

This  overweening  desire  to  aggrandize  the  new  capi- 
tal led  to  a  memorable  dissension,  which  has  left  its 
mark  in  literature  as  well  as  history. 

It  is  said  that  during  the  kalifate  of  Abbas  there 
came  to  his  court  from  Korassan  a  representative  of 
a  family  known  since  as  the  Barmecides,  named  Jaafar, 
who  offered  the  kalif  a  ring  containing  poison,  which 
he  said  might  serve  him  in  case  of  necessity.  His 
son  Kalid  became  chief  vizier  under  Abbas,  and  con- 
tinued to  hold  the  same  ofifice  under  Mansur.  The 
family  was  rich  beyond  computation,  and  Kalid  was 
sage,  eloquent,  frank,  and  courageous  beyond  any 
other  men  of  his  day.  So  great  was  the  influence  of 
Kalid,  that  at  this  time,  when  Mansur  was  at  the 
height  of  his  interest  in  the  creation  of  Bagdad,  and 
proposed  to  rob  the  palaces  of  the  Chosroes,  at 
Medain,  of  their  magnificent  columns  and  other 
masonry,  he  dared  to  interpose  objections  to  the 
plan.  With  the  sagacity  of  a  wary  courtier  he 
asserted  that  to  destroy  the  evidences  of  the  Persian 
grandeur  was  to  obliterate  the  proofs  of  the  power 
of  Islam  which  had  overthrown  it.  The  date  of  the 
foundation  of  Bagdad  is  placed  at  the  year  762.  The 
protests  of  Barmek  were  efiflcient,  and  the  palace  of 
the  Persian  monarchs  was  not  disturbed. 


KUFA   AND   BASSORA    COWED.  359 

The  great-grandchildren  of  Ali  were  at  this  time 
hving  now  at  Mecca,  now  in  Irak,  now  in  Korassan, 
now  in  Egypt,  ever  biding  their  chance  to  interpose 
and  snatch  something  from  the  kab'f.  Mansur  tried 
in  vain  to  discover  their  place  of  retreat,  for  he  knew 
that  since  they  had  lost  the  advantage  they  expected 
to  gain  when  they  aided  Muslim  in  placing  the 
Abbassides  upon  the  throne,  they  had  meditated  re- 
venge and  would  surely  take  it  when  their  time 
arrived.  In  762  they  thought  it  had  come,  and  one 
of  them,  Mohammed  by  name,  openly  assumed  the 
title  of  kalif,  at  Medina,  where  he  had  collected  a 
considerable  number  of  followers.  Mansur  sent  an 
army  against  him,  and  he  was  overthrown  and  killed ; 
but  his  partisans  in  Irak  thought  themselves  strong 
enough  to  revenge  his  death.  They  set  up  at  Bas- 
sora  his  brother,  Ibrahim,  and  he  started  for  Kufa 
at  the  head  of  an  army.  He  was,  however,  destined 
to  no  greater  success  than  his  brother,  and  a  bow 
bent  at  a  venture  sent  an  arrow  through  his  neck. 
With  him  fell  the  last  hopes  of  the  Alyites  for  the 
time.  Mansur  directed  that  the  cities  of  Kufa  and 
Bassora  should  be  surrounded  with  strong  walls, 
and  he  placed  behind  them  garrisons  sufficient  to 
restrain  the  fickle  inhabitants  should  they  be  again 
tempted  to  take  up  the  part  of  any  new  disturber  of 
the  peace  of  the  kalifate.  Troubles  arose  soon  after 
this  in  Africa,  and  an  army  was  sent  thither,  which 
drove  the  revolting  Berbers  to  the  mountains.  It 
was,  however,  not  long  before  they  returned,  and 
then  the  general  of  the  Saracens  visited  condign 
vengeance  upon  them  (a,D.  772).      He  also  repressed 


360  BY  BAGDAD'S  SHRINES. 

a  revolt  at  Tripoli  (a.D.  773),  and  established  peace 
in  that  portion  of  the  kalifate,  which,  no  less  than 
Korassan,  was  ever  ready  for  an  insurrection. 

Mansur  had  now  arrived  at  an  age  which  admon- 
ished him  that  there  was  but  little  more  left  of  the 
present  life,  and  he  wished  to  make  a  final  pilgrimage 
to  the  holy  cities.  He  had  nominated  as  his  suc- 
cessor Isa,  his  eldest  son  ;  but  before  setting  out,  he 
caused  him  to  renounce  his  claim  and  relieve  the 
people  of  their  oath  to  him.  This  Isa  finally  did, 
under  pressure  from  Kalid  Barmek.  He  was  after- 
wards referred  to  as  the  man  who  had  been  ''  to- 
morrow," but  had  become  ''  day  after  to-morrow"  ; 
for  his  younger  brother  Mehdi  was  set  in  his  place 
and  the  people  were  called  to  swear  allegiance  to 
him.  Mansur  then  set  out  for  Mecca,  and  died  at 
a  station  three  miles  from  that  city.  He  was 
interred  in  the  ihram  of  the  pilgrim,  his  grandson 
Harun  al  Rashid  saying  the  last  prayers  over  his 
body  (a.  D.  775).  Mansur  is  represented  to  us  by 
the  Arabian  historians  as  a  person  of  uncommon 
personal  beauty,  and  of  brilliant  traits  of  mind, 
which  were  beclouded  only  by  an  inordinate  parsi- 
mony, for  which  some  of  those  about  him  were  at 
times  hardly  enough  to  censure  him. 

The  news  of  the  death  of  the  kalif  was  carried 
over  the  deserts  to  Bagdad  in  eleven  days,  and  the 
grandees  convened  at  once  to  promise  allegiance  to 
Mehdi,  in  accordance  with  expectations.  The  new 
ruler  was  of  a  generous  spirit  and  showed  a  remark- 
able willingness  to  look  after  the  well-being  of  his 
people.     He  not  only  surrounded  himself  with  able 


A  LUXURIOUS  PILGRIMAGE.  36 1 

statesmen,  but  he  gave  audience  personally  to  his 
subjects,  and  endeavored  to  redress  their  wrongs ; 
he  allowed  many  prisoners,  whom  the  severity  of 
Mansur  had  deprived  of  their  freedom,  to  return  to 
the  world  ;  and  he  reinstated  those  governors  who 
had  suffered  from  the  same  cause. 

Before  the  first  year  of  his  reign  had  closed,  Mehdi 
determined  to  make  the  pilgrimage  to  Mecca,  and 
his  arrangements  for  it  were  of  the  most  luxurious 
description.  Tents  were  carried  to  protect  the 
prince  and  his  suite  from  the  sun,  and  many  camels 
bore  freight  of  snow  from  Korassan  to  cool  the  air 
still  more;  every 
means  was  taken  to 
guard  against  all 
weariness  of  the  flesh 
and  to  ensure  the  en- 
joyment of  the  long 
journey.  Arrived  at 
Mecca,  the  kalif's 
extravagance  became  still  more  manifest  :  mil- 
lions of  gold  coins,  brought  from  Yemen  and 
Egypt,  were  distributed  among  the  fortunate  inhabi- 
tants ;  the  rich  covers  of  the  Kaaba  were  taken  ofY 
and  heavy  silken  stuffs  put  in  their  place;  at  Medina, 
too,  the  mosque  was  enlarged  and  adorned  in  a 
manner  worthy  of  the  great  ruler.  Even  the  route 
to  the  holy  cities  was  not  forgotten  ;  milestones 
marked  the  distance  from  Bagdad  to  Mecca ;  cara- 
vansaries were  erected  at  convenient  points ;  wells 
and  cisterns  were  dug  to  quench  the  thirst  of  pil- 
grims; and  relays  of  camels  and  asses  were  provided, 


COIN  OF  MEHDI  (a.  O.   779). 


362  BY  BAGDAD'S  SHRINES. 

not  only  to  Mecca,  but  also  to  Yemen,  that  the 
transmission  of  royal  messages  might  be  rapid  and 
sure.  Such  were  the  extravagant  measures  by  which 
Mehdi  sought  to  benefit  his  country. 

Peace  did  not  always  perch  upon  his  banners  how- 
ever, and  it  was  in  revolutionary  Korassan  (Province 
of  the  Sun)  that  opposition  to  the  generous  ruler  is 
first  to  be  remarked. 

"  In  that  delightful  province  of  the  Sun, 
The  first  of  Persian  lands  he  shines  upon, 
Where  all  the  loveliest  children  of  his  beam, 
Flow'rets  and  fruits,  blush  over  every  stream, 
And  fairest  of  all  streams,  the  Murga  roves 
Among  Merou's  [Merv's]  bright  palaces  and  groves  : — 
There  on  that  throne,  to  which  the  blind  belief 
Of  millions  raised  him,  sat  the  Prophet-chief, 
The  great  Mokanna.     Over  his  features  hung 
The  veil,  the  silver  veil,  which  he  had  flung 
In  mercy  there,  to  hide  from  mortal  sight 
His  dazzling  brow,  till  man  could  bear  its  light. 
For,  far  less  luminous,  his  votaries  said, 
Were  even  the  gleams,  miraculously  shed 
O'er  Moussa's  cheek,  when  down  the  mount  he  trod. 
All  glowing  from  the  presence  of  his  God."  * 

Thus  the  poet  introduces  to  his  readers  Hakim, 
called  Mokanna,  "  the  Veiled,"  a  prophet  who  led 
an  obscure  sect  in  Korassan  at  this  time.  This 
order  was  a  reminiscence  of  the  days  of  Muslim, 
from  whom  probably  Hakim  had  learned  what  he 
knew  about  Islam.  He  appeared  at  about  the  year 
670,  and  pretended  that  Allah  had  been  incarnate  in 
Adam,  Noah,  Muslim,  and  that  at  that  time  he  was 
incarnate  in  him.  His  followers  became  enemies  of 
the  Moslems,  and  made  successful  predatory  excur- 

*  Moore's  "  Lalla  Rookh,"  "  The  Veiled  Prophet  of  Khorassan." 


THE  .  VEILED  PROP  HE  T  OF  KORA  SSAN.         3D5 

sions  into  their  territory.  Mehdi  sent  an  army 
against  them,  and  so  great  was  their  number  that  it 
is  said  that  thirty  thousand  left  Hakim's  standards 
when  they  saw  that  the  cause  was  lost  (about  779). 
When  driven  into  his  strong  fortress,  Hakim  poi- 
soned and  burned  all  his  family,  after  which  he  threw 
himself  into  the  flames  and  was  completely  con- 
sumed, excepting  his  hair.  He  left  a  message  that 
he  was  to  reappear  again  in  the  form  of  an  aged  man 
riding  a  gray  beast,  and  for  many  years  his  second 
coming  was  looked  for."^ 

The  former  desire  for  conquest  had  now  given 
place  to  the  love  of  luxury,  and  the  armies  of  the 
kalifate  were  hardly  sufficient  to  perform  police 
duty  at  home  ;  but  Mehdi  was,  nevertheless  inspired 
with  the  desire  which  had  been  so  strong  in  his  pre- 
decessors, of  making  some  reprisals  upon  the  Roman 
empire.  The  first  force  that  he  sent  in  that  direction 
was  obliged  to  retreat  to  Syria,  after  having  pene- 
trated as  far  as  the  town  of  Dorylaeum,  in  Phrygia, 
which  it  had  been  unsuccessful  in  attacking.  The 
following  year,  Mehdi  recruited  a  formidable  army 
among  the  strong  warriors  of  Korassan,  and  set  out 
himself  at  its  head,  leaving  at  Bagdad  his  eldest  son, 
Hedi,  and  taking  with  him  Harun  al  Rashid,  who, 
under  direction  of  Kalid  Barmek,  then  received  his 
first  lessons  in  war. 

The  year  785  was  that  in  which  Irene,  widow  of 
Leo  IV.,  took  the  government  of  Constantinople  in 
the    name    of   her  son,   Constantine   V.     Italy   had 

*  An  account  of  Mokanna  is  given  by  Professor  Vambery,  "  His- 
tory of  Bokhara,"  pages  42-52. 


364  BV  BAGDAD'S  SHJ^INES. 

been  wrested  from  the  Eastern  empire  of  Charle- 
magne, and  the  empress  saw  that  her  only  hope  of 
conquest  w^as  by  making  head  against  the  Saracens. 
Accordingly  she  prepared  an  army  of  ninety  thou- 
sand men  for  this  purpose.  Mehdi  collected  one 
almost  as  large,  and  sent  it  out  under  command  of 
Harun  to  invade  the  domains  of  the  empress.  Vic- 
tory followed  the  black  flag  of  the  Abbassides,  and 
Irene  at  last  saw  the  camp-fires  of  the  Saracens 
lighting  up  the  shores  of  the  Bosphorus.  A  battle 
for  possession  of  the  city  followed,  and  the  Saracw.ns 
were  victorious;  then  Irene  in  terror  asked  ten. is 
of  peace,  and  the  Saracens  ceased  their  operations, 
upon  her  promising  to  pay  an  immense  annual 
tribute  to  the  kalif ;  besides  furnishing  guides  and 
provisions  for  the  army  on  its  return,  and  permitting 
the  kalif  to  take  back  with  him  thousands  of  prison- 
ers and  beasts,  besides  large  sums  of  ready  money. 

After  this  success  in  arms,  Mehdi  gave  attention 
to  putting  down  the  false  religionists  who  had  arisen 
among  the  people,  and  in  cultivating  literature  and 
the  arts.  In  the  year  784,  he  determined,  though 
he  was  still  a  young  man  himself,  to  ensure  the 
crown  to  his  son  Harun  ;  but  before  this  design  had 
been  accomplished,  his  life  came  to  a  sudden  end, 
either  by  accident  in  hunting  or  by  means  of  a 
poisoned  draught  designed  for  another  (a.D.  785). 
He  was  affectionately  remembered  by  his  people  as 
just  and  generous,  as  the  beautifier  of  the  mosques 
at  Mecca,  Medina,  and  Jerusalem,  and  as  the  only 
one  of  his  dynasty  who  did  not  break  the  rule  of  the 
prophet  forbidding^  the  use  of  wine.     The  reign  is 


.       SKEPTICISM  INCREASING.  365 

noted,  as  Tabari  observes,  for  the  increase  of  heresies, 
owing  probably  to  the  growth  of  the  Persian  influ- 
ences. There  had  come  to  be  many  who  horrified 
the  orthodox  by  expressing  skepticism  about  the 
Koran  and  the  prophet,  immortahty  and  paradise, 
and  indulging  in  unseemly  pleasantries  over  the  sub- 
jects of  fasts  and  prayers. 

Hedi  was  promptly  proclaimed  kalif  in  the  room 
of  his  father  in  785  ;  and  the  ever  restless  Alyites 
took  immediate  steps  towards  revolution  in  their 
own  favor.  It  happened  that  they  made  their  de- 
monstration at  Mecca  at  the  time  of  pilgrimage, 
when  the  city  was  filled  with  men  from  all  portions 
of  the  kalifate,  and  naturally  many  of  the  partisans 
of  the  Abbassides  were  among  them.  A  bloody 
struggle  between  the  factions  ensued,  and  the  un- 
fortunate children  of  Ali  were  again  defeated. 

Hedi  was  destined  to  enjoy  the  supreme  authority 
but  a  few  months,  and  most  of  his  attention  was 
given  to  putting  down  certain  atheists,  nihilists,  or 
materialists,  and  in  making  the  succession  secure  to 
his  eldest  son,  against  the  known  wishes  of  his  father. 
This  design  was-  frustrated  by  Kalid,  who  felt  the 
tenderness  of  a  teacher  for  his  pupil,  and  remembered 
also  the  benefits  that  he  had  received  from  Mehdi. 
Hedi  did  not  live  in  friendly  relations  with  his 
mother,  who,  he  thought,  exercised  too  much  influ- 
ence in  government.  In  consequence  of  this  ill-feel- 
ing, he  endeavored  to  poison  her ;  but  his  design 
was  discovered  and  he  was  himself  smothered  with 
pillows  in  the  year  786,  after  a  reign  of  only  fifteen 
months,  at  the  age  of  twenty-six  years. 


XXXVII. 

AARON   THE    ORTHODOX. 

We  have  now  reached  that  brilUant  period  in  the 
history  of  the  world  when  the  heroes  of  romance 
were  rub'ng  at  once, — imperial  Charlemagne  in  the 
West  and  capricious  Harun  al  Rashid  in  the  East, 
and  we  can  scarcely  turn  the  pages  on  which  the  rec- 
ord of  the  times  are  written  without  expecting  to 
see  a  paladin  of  the  one  start  up  before  us,  or  to 
have  our  ears  ravished  by  the  seductive  voice  of 
Queen  Scheherazade  telling  her  romantic  tales. 
The  familiar  picture  of  the  period  is  crowded  with 
jinns,  efreets,  and  ghouls;  minarets  burnished  with 
gold  shine  from  every  quarter ;  gayly-lighted  pleas- 
ure barges  float  on  the  waters  of  the  Tigris ;  deadly 
scimetars  flash  before  our  startled  eyes ;  we  are  in- 
troduced to  caves  in  which  thieves  gorged  with  gold 
have  hoarded  their  ill-gotten  wealth  ;  we  tread  the 
streets  of  Bagdad  by  night  in  company  with  kalifs 
true  and  false ;  we  hear  the  sound  of  a  voice  calling 
upon  us  to  exchange  old  lamps  for  new ;  we  enter 
the  gorgeous  palace  of  the  four-and-twenty  windows, 
and  as  we  behold  the  unfinished  one,  exclaim  with 
the  poet : 

"  Ah,  who  shall  lift  that  wand  of  magic  power. 
And  the  lost  clew  regain  ? 


THE  BAGDAD  OF  STORY.  3^7 

The  unfinished  window  in  Aladdin's  tower 
Unfinished  must  remain.   .   .   . 

"  So  I  wander  and  wander  along, 
And  forever  before  me  gleams 
The  shining  city  of  songs 

In  the  beautiful  land  of  dreams." 

It  is  a  land  of  dreams  to  most  of  the  world,  but  it 
was  far  otherwise  to  the  citizens  of  Bagdad  then. 
To  them  Harun  was  a  flesh-and-blood  monarch ;  his 
scimetar  was  no  fantasm  of  a  dream  ;  his  caprices 
were  not  the  entertaining  story  of  a  fascinating  Per- 
sian genius;  the  brilliant  Oriental  imagination  had 
not  yet  wrought  out  its  rich  pages  of  adventure  and 
despotic  marvels ;  the  people  of  Bagdad  did  not 
smile  at  the  erratic  deeds  of  their  chief  ruler:  to 
them  he  was  one  whose  words  made  every  subject 
tremble,  lest  the  fate  of  the  Barmecides,  perchance, 
might  be  theirs  ;  lest  the  whirling  scimetar  of  the 
executioner  should  cut  through  their  own  necks. 
The  people  who  in  that  day  were  born  *' adown 
the  Tigris," 

"  By  Bagdad's  shrines  of  fretted  gold, 
High-walled  gardens  green  and  old," 

who  rested  beneath  the  citron  shadows,  who  saw 

"  The  costly  doors  flung  open  wide, 

Cold  glittering  through  the  lamplight  dim, 
And  broidered  sofas  on  each  side," 

did  not  enjoy  the  charms  of  the  scenes  they  were 
surrounded  by  so  much  as  we  may  now  ;  for  every 
step  they  took  was  dogged  by  fear — fear  that  was 
based  upon  ghastly  experience  of  the  tyranny  and 


368  AARON  THE   ORTHODOX. 

peremptory  savagery  of  the  *'good  *  Harun  al 
Rashid,  of  which  poetry  so  gayly  speaks  to  us  to- 
day. 

The  reign  of  this  monarch,, who  raised  the  great- 
ness of  the  kahfate  higher  than  it  has  ever  before 
been  carried,  was  divided  into  two  periods,  during 
the  first  of  which  the  sovereign,  giving  himself  up  to 
the  enjoyment  of  luxurious  ease,  permitted  his  min- 
isters, the  sons  of  Barmek,  to  send  his  armies  hither 
and  thither  in  search  of  conquests  or  in  efforts  to 
put  down  risings  against  his  power.  This  period 
closed  in  803,  and  the  affairs  of  the  kalif  then  fell 
into  a  state  of  confusion  which  only  grew  worse 
after  his  death  in  809. 

The  Barmecides  were  patrons  of  art,  letters,  and 
science,  and  encouraged  men  of  learning  to  make 
their  homes  at  the  capital  ;  Harun  sympathized  in 
this  policy,  and  Bagdad  became  magnificent  almost 
beyond  the  power  of  words  to  express  to  readers  ac- 
customed to  the  comparative  simplicity  of  nineteenth- 
century  magnificence.  In  the  progress  of  Bagdad 
the  kalif's  brother  Ibrahim,  a  man  of  parts,  who  af- 
terwards became  a  claimant  for  supreme  power,  was 
a  helper  not  to  be  left  out  of  the  account.  The  chief 
vizier,  who  bore  the  burdens  of  state,  as  the  title  sig- 
nifies, was  Yahya,  son  of  Kalid,  son  of  Barmek;  and 
he  it  was  who  encouraged  trade,  regulated  the  inter- 
nal administration  of  government  in  every  respect, 
fortified  the  frontiers,  and  made  the  provinces 
prosperous  by  making  them  safe.  Jaafer,  his  son, 
governed  Syria  and  Egypt,  besides  having  other  re- 
sponsibilities.    The  family  was  an  ornament  to  the 


370  AARON  THE   ORTHODOX. 

forehead  and  a  crown  on  the  head  of  the  kaHf,  as 
the  chroniclers  relate ;  they  were  brilliant  stars,  vast 
oceans,  impetuous  torrents,  beneficent  rains,  the 
refuge  of  the  afflicted,  the  comfort  of  the  dis- 
tressed, and  so  generous  are  they  represented  that 
the  story  of  their  beneficence  reads  like  a  veritable 
page  from  the  Thousand  and  One  Nights. 

The  Alyites  rose  in  Africa  in  792,  and  the  Barme- 
cides put  them  down ;  dissensions  broke  out  at  Da- 
mascus, at  Mosul,  in  Egypt,  among  the  Karejites, 
but  they  were  restrained  by  the  strong  ministers, 
and  all  the  while  the  kalif  pursued  his  career  as  pa- 
tron of  arts  and  letters  ;  wits  and  musicians  thronged 
about  him  ;  grammarians  and  poets,  jurists  and  di- 
vines, alike  were  encouraged  in  their  chosen  pursuits. 
In  802,  a  new  emperor  came  to  the  throne  at  Con- 
stantinople; Nicephorus  usurped  the  place  of  Irene. 
He  courted  Charlemagne  on  the  west,  and  insulted 
Harun  on  the  east.  He  sent  a  letter  to  the  kalif, 
saying : 

''  From  Nicephorus,  King  of  the  Greeks,  to  Harun, 
King  of  the  Arabs. 

"  The  queen  considered  you  as  a  rook  and  herself 
as  a  pawn  '^'  ;  she  submitted  to  pay  tribute  to  you, 
though  she  ought  to  have  exacted  twice  as  much 
from  you.  A  man  speaks  to  you  now  ;  therefore 
send  back  the  tribute  you  have  received,  otherwise 
the  sword  shall  be  umpire  between  me  and  thee!" 

To  this  haughty  note  Harun  replied : 

*  The  rook  or  castle  in  the  game  of  chess  is  permitted  to  make  long 
moves  across  the  boards  in  lines  parallel  with  its  sides,  while  the  pawn 
may  move  diagonally  but  one  square  at  a  time. 


END  OF  THE  BARMECIDES.  3/1 

"  In  the  name  of  Allah  most  merciful ! 

*'  Harun  al  Rashid,  Commander  of  the  Faithful,  to 
Nicephorus,  the  Roman  dog. 

"  I  have  read  thy  letter,  O  thou  son  of  an  unbeliev- 
ing mother!  Thou  shalt  not  hear  but  behold  my 
reply  !  " 

The  kalif  set  forth  that  very  day  ;  he  plundered, 
burned,  and  completely  conquered  the  region  about 
Heraclea,  in  Bithynia.  Nicephorus  sued  for  peace, 
which  was  granted  him  on  condition  that  the  usual 
tribute  should  now  be  paid  twice  a  year.  Scarcely 
had  the  kalif  reached  his  palace,  when  the  treacher- 
ous emperor  broke  the  treaty,  and  Harun  advanced 
upon  him  over  the  Taurus  mountains  in  spite  of  the 
inclement  winter  weather,  with  an  army  of  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-five  thousand  men.  Heraclea  and 
other  fortresses  were  again  taken,  and  this  time  dis- 
mantled, and  peace  was  once  more  agreed  upon. 

At  about  this  period,  Harun  became  jealous  of  his 
great  ministers,  the  Barmecides,  one  of  whom  had 
secretly  married  his  sister,  and  decreed  their  ruin. 
With  the  usual  Oriental  treacher}^,  the  different 
members  of  the  family  were  taken  and  imprisoned 
for  life  or  slaughtered,  to  the  last  man.  In  this  case, 
as  in  many  others  in  the  Saracen  history,  no  senti- 
ment of  gratitude  for  all  that  had  been  accomplished 
by  the  faithful  servants  was  taken  into  account ; 
though  Harun  is  said  to  have  shed  tears  over  the 
fate  of  the  two  children  of  his  sister  and  Yahya,  he 
did  not  allow  such  sentimental  weakness  to  interfere 
with  his  atrocious  purpose.  There  had  been  enemies 
of  the  Barmecides  at  court,  some  of  whom  had  lost 


372  AARON  THE    ORTHODOX. 

their  offices  on  the  advent  of  the  favorites,  and  these 
had  endeavored  to  prejudice  the  mind  of  the  kaUf 
against  them.  As  Persians  they  were  naturally  hated, 
and  these  enemies  accused  them  of  disloyal  ambition. 
When  they  found  themselves  unable  to  carry  their 
point  in  this  way,  they  accused  the  Barmecides,  with 
more  grounds,  of  infidelity,  and  doubtless  they  were 
thought  nihilists  by  many,  for  they  had  little  sym- 
pathy with  Islam.  Harun  was  himself  exceedingly 
orthodox,  and  very  scrupulous  in  obeying  such  of 
the  laws  of  his  religion  as  he  did  not  care  to  break,* 
and  though  at  time  he  paid  little  attention  to  this 
accusation,  he  found  it  convenient  to  remember, 
when  he  had  determined  to  overthow  his  favorites. 

**  Fallen  was  the  house  of  Jaafar  ;  and  its  name, 
The  high  romantic  name  of  Barmecide, 
A  sound  forbidden  on  its  own  bright  shores, 
By  the  swift  Tigris'  wave.      Stern  Harun's  wrath. 
Sweeping  the  mighty  with  their  fame  away, 
Had  so  passed  sentence  :  but  man's  chainless  heart 
Hides  that  within  its  depths  which  never  yet 
The  oppressor's  thought  could  reach." 

An  Arabian  poet  thus  deplored  the  fall  of  the 
Barmecides  : 

"  No,  Barmek  !  time  hath  never  shown 
So  sad  a  change  of  wayward  fate  ; 
Nor  sorrowing  mortals  ever  known 
A  grief  so  true,  a  loss  so  great. 

"  Spouse  of  the  world  !  thy  soothing  breast 
Did  balm  to  every  woe  afford  ; 
And  now,  no  more  by  thee  caressed. 
The  widowed  world  bewails  her  lord," 

*  Though  no  kalif  had  ever  performed  the  pilgrimage  with  more 
care  than  Harun,  he  utterly  ignored  the  canon  against  the  use  of 
wine,  which  was  recklessly  drunk  at  his  feasts. 


»►  ■       TROUBLE  IN  KORASSAN.  3/3 

The  friends  of  the  Barmecides  at  Bagdad  now 
proved  so  many  that  Harun  found  it  a  less  comforta- 
ble place  of  abode  than  it  had  been,  and  accordingly 
he  took  up  his  permanent  residence  at  Rakka,  on  the 
Euphrates,  where  he  had,  indeed,  been  living  for  a 
while  before  this  time. 

The  truce  with  Nicephorus  did  not  stand,  but  it 
was  four  years  more  before  the  ravages  of  the  Sara- 
cens, which  extended  from  the  shores  of  Bithynia  to 
those  of  Cilicia  and  included  the  island  of  Cyprus, 
had  made  sufficient  impression  to  force  the  emperor 
again  to  sue  for  peace,  and  had  punished  him  enough 
to  make  him  keep  his  agreement  (about  804).  Prob- 
ably Constantinople  was  now  saved  from  capture, 
and  the  whole  Western  world  from  being  overrun  by 
the  Saracens,  by  the  fact  that  a  new  revolt  in  Koras- 
san  called  the  attention  of  the  kalif  in  that  direction. 
At  the  same  time  he  was  disturbed  regarding  the  suc- 
cession. The  rising  in  Korassan  was  quickly  settled 
without  bloodshed,  and  the  kalif  returned  home ; 
but  his  rest  was  brief.  The  following  year  (807)  new 
troubles  called  Harun  to  Korassan.  Leaving  his  son 
Kasim  at  Rakka,  and  Amin,  whom  he  designed  as 
his  successor,  at  Bagdad,  he  took  with  him  another 
son,  Mamun,  and  hastened  to  the  seat  of  the  revolu- 
tion. From  the  outset  of  this  journey,  he  felt  that 
his  life  was  nearing  its  end,  but  he  lived  long  enough 
to  calm  the  province.  He  suffered  all  the  time  from 
a  malady,  but  more  from  not  entirely  baseless  sus- 
picions that  his  sons  desired  his  death  and  were 
using  means  to  compass  it. 

When  Harun  was  assured  that  his  last  moment  had 


374  A  A  RON  THE   ORTHODOX. 

almost  arrived,  he  chose  his  shroud,  ordered  his  grave 
prepared,  and  then  superintended  the  savage  butch- 
ery of  one  of  the  captured  revolters,  causing  his 
body  to  be  cut  to  pieces  limb  by  limb  in  his  pres- 
ence.* Two  days  after  this  ghastly  performance,  he 
died,  breathing  his  last  at  the  capital  of  Korassan 
(a.D.  809).  In  accordance  with  an  agreement  to 
which  he  had  caused  his  sons  Amin  and  Mamun  to 
swear  within  the  sacred  enclosures  of  the  Kaaba, 
on  the  occasion  of  the  last  of  his  many  pilgrimages, 
Harun  was  succeeded  by  his  eldest  son  Amin. 

An  Arabian  poet  addressed  the  following  quite 
outspoken  lines  to  Harun  on  the  occasion  of  one 
of  his  pilgrimages : 

*'  Religion's  gems  can  ne'er  adorn 
The  flimsy  robe  by  pleasure  worn  ; 
Its  feeble  texture  soon  would  tear, 
And  give  those  jewels  to  the  air. 

"  Thrice  happy  those  who  seek  the  abode 
Of  peace  and  pleasure  in  their  God  ; 
"Who  spurn  the  world,  its  joys  despise, 
And  grasp  at  bliss  beyond  the  skies." 

By  the  terms  of  the  will  of  Harun,  Mamun  was 
still  to  be  governor  of  Korassan  ;  but  as  soon  as  the 
kalif  was  dead,  the  vizier  marched  a  large  portion 
of  the  troops  belonging  to  that  province  to  Bagdad, 
in  order  to  support  the  assumptions  of  Amin,  though 
this  was  directly  in  opposition  to  the  expressed 
wishes  of  Harun,  and  left  Mamun  comparatively 
helpless.     Harun  knew  that  there  was  a  feeling  of 

*  See  "The  Caliph  Haroun  Alraschid  and  Saracen  Civilization," 
by  E.  H.  Palmer,  page  124. 


JEALOUSY  OF  ARAB  AND  PERSIAN,  Z7S 

jealousy  among  his  Arabian  subjects  against  the 
Persian  influence,  and  feared  that  it  would  break  out 
in  a  more  intense  form  after  his  death.  He  knew 
that  the  ascendency  of  the  Barmecides  had  strength- 
ened the  Persian  party,  and  that  the  extinction  of 
that  family  had  made  the  Arab  faction  think  them- 
selves of  greater  comparative  importance  in  state 
pohtics.  Still,  the  balance  was  not  complete,  and  he 
made  a  plan  which  he  thought  would  give  the  gov- 
ernment stability  in  the  face  of  such  sectional  jeal- 
ousies. He  ordered  that  Amin  should  hold  his 
court  at  Bagdad,  and  Mamun  rule  from  Merv  ;  but 
that  upon  the  death  of  either  brother,  the  power 
should  be  reunited  in  the  hands  of  the  survivor. 
The  plan  was  the  surest  to  promote  the  dissension 
that  it  was  intended  to  avoid.  Amin,  not  satisfied 
with  taking  from  his  brother  the  troops  that  were 
his,  set  aside  the  succession  in  favor  of  his  own  son. 
He  then  ordered  the  sworn  agreement,  that  had 
been  hung  up  in  the  Kaaba,  to  be  destroyed  ;  he 
omitted  Mamun's  name  in  the  public  prayer,  and 
substituted  that  of  his  son ;  and  at  last,  he  de- 
manded of  Mamun  the  surrender  of  certain  of  his 
provinces. 

Meantime  Mamun  had  not  been  idle  ;  foreseeing  the 
events  that  actually  occurred,  he  had  made  every 
effort  to  bind  his  subjects  to  him  ;  he  had  remitted 
their  taxes ;  negotiated  peace  with  some  distant 
rebels  who  might  give  him  trouble,  and  had  held 
frequent  durbars  (receptions),  at  which  he  dispensed 
justice  personally.  He  remembered  how  faithful 
the  people  of  that  province  had  been  to  Muslim,  and 


37^  AARON  THE   ORTHODOX. 

he  patiently  awaited  the  action  of  Amin.  The  two 
brothers  represented,  indeed,  the  different  peoples 
that  composed  the  kalifate,  for  Amin  was  son  of  a 
woman  of  Arabia,  and  Mamun  of  a  Persian  mother. 
They  were  directed  by  two  men  named  Fadhl  :  one, 
the  son  of  Rabia,  leader  of  the  Arab  faction,  and 
the  other,  son  of  Sahl,  descended  from  the  old 
Persian  kings. 

Mamun  naturally  refused  to  give  up  his  provinces, 
and  war  was  precipitated  ;  armies  were  raised  by 
both  brothers,  and  the  first  conflict  occurred  at  the 
town  of  Rei  (Rhe),  where  the  forces  of  Amin  were 
routed.  Another  army  and  another  were  sent 
towards  Korassan  with  no  better  results,  and  Bagdad 
was  paralyzed  with  terror.  Kufa  and  Bassora  came 
to  the  rescue,  however,  but  their  troops  were  not 
able  to  keep  peace  among  themselves.  Syria  was 
another  source  of  hope  ;  but  Syria  was  looking  out 
for  its  own  independence,  and  proclaimed  a  rival 
kalif  at  Damascus,  who  declared  that  he  united  the 
rights  of  Ali  and  Moawia.  All  the  while  the  army 
from  Korassan  was  coming  down  upon  the  capital, 
under  command  of  Tahir,  a  Persian  general  of  high 
repute. 

At  last  the  gates  were  reached;  in  the  year  812, 
the  Tigris  saw  the  two  armies  lying  one  on  each 
bank  ;  and  the  rich  city  was  in  a  state  of  siege  ;  the 
gates  were  barricaded, — those  gates  for  which  the 
capitals  of  the  past  had  been  robbed  ;  and  the  kalif 
was  shut  up  in  his  palace.  Week  by  week  the 
circling  army  of  Persians  came  closer,  and  the  dis- 
tress within  the  walls  grew  more  intense.     Fourteen 


•    MAMUN  BECOMES  KALIF.  2>77 

months  passed,  and  Amin  gave  up  ;  surrendering 
himself  in  expectation  of  saving  his  Hfe  ;  but  he  was 
ingloriously  assassinated  in  spite  of  all. 

In  reference  to  the  facts  that  Tahir,  the  general 
who  captured  Bagdad,  was  ambidextrous  and  blind 
of  one  eye,  a  poet  addressed  to  him  the  following 
epigram  : 

"  A  pair  of  right  hands  and  a  single  dim  eye 
Must  form  not  a  man,  but  a  monster,  they  cry  : 
Change  a  hand  to  an  eye,  good  Tahir,  if  you  can. 
And  a  monster,  perhaps,  may  be  changed  to  a  man." 

Prematurely  old,  Amin,  unworthy  of  the  ofifice  he 
had  so  short  a  time  occupied,  thus  died  at  the  age  of 
less  than  thirty  years,  and  Mamun,  his  brother,  was 
the  next  day  proclaimed,  in  the  streets  of  Bagdad, 
kalif  and  Commander  of  the  Faithful.  Civil  war 
was  over  for  the  time. 


1^ 

E^S 

^D 

immm 

o^^^SS 

XXXVIII. 


GOLD   AND    DROSS. 


The  new  kalif  did  not  come  immediately  to  the  ex- 
ercise oC  his  power,  for  he  found  himself  ruled  by  that 
minister  to  whom  he  owed  his  elevation.  Fadhl  had 
been  educated  to  the  Magian  creed,  before  becoming 
a  convert  to  Islam,  and  had  been  a  trusted  courtier 
of  Harun,  who  made  him  tutor  and  guardian  of 
Mamun.  This  familiar  relation  to  the  new  kalif  gave 
Fadhl  an  advantage  of  which  he  took  all  possible  ad- 
vantage, and  Mamun  readily  abandoned  to  him  the 
entire  control  of  public  affairs,  with  complete  re- 
liance upon  his  wisdom.  He  was  known  as  "  .  laster 
of  the  Pen  and  the  Sword  "  ;  he  enjoyed  power  such 
as  no  minister  had  ever  wielded  before.  Under  him 
the  Persian  influence  became  immense  ;  his  brother 
was  made  governor  of  Irak  ;  Tahir,  the  conqueror  of 
Bagdad,  was  made  governor  of  Syria,  and  of  the 
regions  north  of  it,  with  his  capital  at  Damascus; 
and  the  other  provinces  were  entrusted  to  men  of 
the  same  foreign  birth.  The  result  was  general  dis- 
satisfaction. 

In  814,  the  Alyites,  ever  ready  for  a  revolt,  rose 
in  great  strength,  and  achieved  a  victory  over  the 
kalif's  troops,  near  Kufa  ;    a  new  army  was  sent  out 


ANARCHY  AT  BAGDAD.  379 

and  conquered,  and  the  rebels  gained  possession  of 
Bassora  ;  when  suddenly  their  leader  died  or  fell  by 
poison,  and  they  were  forced  to  surrender.  Ten 
months  after  the  first  rising  every  city  in  Irak  had 
renewed  its  allegiance  to  the  kalif. 

The  agent  in  this  conquest,  Hartama,  a  general  of 
great  skill,  was  rewarded  in  the  usual  manner  by  his 
master ;  he  was  thrust  into  a  dungeon  from  which 
he  only  came  out  to  execution  (a.d.  816). 

The  city  of  Bagdad  fell  into  a  state  of  complete 
anarchy  ;  the  streets  were  filled  with  thieves  and  as- 


COIN   OF   THE  KALIF   MAMUN. 

sassins,  who  dared  to  carry  off  women  and  children 
in  full  day ;  who  pillaged  the  dwellings  wherever 
they  wished  ;  who  even  organized  themselves  into 
bands  to  rob  and  destroy  in  the  suburbs.  A  brave 
citizen,  armed  only  with  the  Koran,  ventured  to  op- 
pose these  reckless  men,  and  to  call  upon  them,  in 
the  name  of  Allah  and  his  prophet,  to  cease  their  ill 
deeds.  The  strange  effort  was  successful ;  but 
scarcely  had  quiet  been  restored,  when  the  scourge  of 
a  new  Alyite  rebellion  burst  forth  apparently  at  once, 
in  Irak,  in  Yemen,  in  the  region  about  the  holy  cities. 
The  dazed  kalif  looked  in  vain  for  some  means  of 
putting  an  end  to  these  constant  uprisings  of  the 


380  GOLD  AND  DROSS. 

descendants  of  Ali,  and  in  his  despair  thought  to 
bring  peace  by  a  total  surrender.  He  called  to  him 
at  Merv,  in  817,  one  of  the  great-grandsons  of  Ali, 
Ali  ben  Musa  el  Rida,  born  in  the  reign  of  Mehdi, 
a  man  well  known  for  his  learning,  piety,  and  good 
life,  to  whom  he  gave  his  daughter  in  marriage ; 
he  then  promised  him  the  throne  after  his  death ; 
coined  money  in  his  name  ;  exchanged  the  black 
garments  of  the  tribe  of  Abbas  for  the  green  clothes 
which  marked  the  descendants  of  the  prophet ;  and 
sent  out  letters  commanding  that  the  same  change 
of  colors  should  be  made  by  all  the  civil  and  military 
officers  of  the  kingdom. 

Much  as  the  Alyites  Avere  pleased  by  this  surren- 
der, it  did  not  bring  peace:  for  the  children  of  Ab- 
bas, who  counted  thirty-three  thousand  men  in 
Arabia  alone,  whose  chief  strength  was  at  Bagdad, 
rose  in  indignation,  and,  after  a  week  of  rioting  and 
uproar,  during  which  the  air  was  filled  with  curses  of 
Mamun,  and  the  popular  wrath  was  excited  to  its  ut- 
most, they  finally  deposed  the  kalif,  and  chose  in  his 
stead  Ibrahim,  son  of  Mehdi  the  former  ruler  (a.d. 
817).  On  the  summit  of  such  asocial  volcano  Mamun 
was  lulled  to  sleep  by  the  intriguing  minister,  who 
at  first  kept  all  information  of  the  rising  from  reach- 
ing him,  and  then  managed  to  make  him  believe 
that  Ibrahim  was  not  a  rival,  but  simply  his  lieuten- 
ant at  the  old  capital.  While  the  kalif  slept,  the 
rioting  went  on  ;  property  became  insecure  ;  life  was 
of  no  value ;  the  farmers  forsook  their  ancestral 
homes ;  the  uncultivated  lands  produced  no  harvests; 
c^nd  famine  followed  bloodshed* 


VIGORO  US  A  CTIONS  OP  MAM  UN.  3  8 1 

Musa,  the  innocent  cause  of  the  disturbance,  now 
dared  to  sacrifice  himself ;  he  craved  a  private  inter- 
view, and  told  the  kalif  that  it  was  not  devotion  to 
the  house  of  Ali,  but  aversion  to  it,  that  caused  the 
trouble  :  "  the  men  of  Bagdad  are  discontented  that 
thou  hast  chosen  me  as  thy  successor ;  that  thou 
hast  changed  the  regal  color  from  black  to  green  ; 
the  usurper  there  is  not  thy  lieutenant,  but  acts  as 
kalif  in  his  own  right ;  it  is  thine  to  support  thy 
rights  !  "     The  panic-struck  Mamun  was  awake  now. 

^'Art  thou  the  only  one  who  knows  this?"  he 
cried. 

"  Nay  ;  the  whole  army  knows  it  !  " 

Secretly  and  instantly  the  kalif  convened  his  chief 
advisers,  and  asked  them  for  further  information.  A 
profound  silence  was  all  the  response  he  obtained. 
At  last  one  of  them  more  bold  than  the  others,  ven- 
tured to  open  his  mouth  and  say  that  none  dared  to 
speak  until  guaranteed  security  against  the  wrath  of 
the  chief  minister.  This  the  kalif  gave  under  his 
hand,  and  thereupon  he  was  told  that  the  murder  of 
Hartama  was  the  act  of  Fadhl,  for  political  purposes, 
that  the  accusation  of  treason  was  false  ;  that  all  the 
late  changes  in  government  had  been  made  to  bol- 
ster up  the  cause  of  the  Alyites,  and  not  for  the 
good  of  the  realm. 

Mamun  instantly  determined  to  act.  He  left 
Merv,  and  hastened  towards  Bagdad  ;  on  the  way 
thither  four  ferocious  soldiers  were  summoned  be- 
fore him  and  given  private  instructions.  Fadhl 
entered  his  bath  soon  after,  the  four  men  rushed 
upon  him,  and  he  was  beyond  the  power  of  intrigue. 


382  GOLD  AND   DROSS. 

The  kalif  when  informed  of  the  tragedy,  hastened  to 
see  his  minister ;  gazed  in  apparent  horror  upon  the 
corpse,  and  ordered  the  murderers  slain  in  his  pres- 
ence, in  the  sacred  month  Ramadan  ;  he  condoled 
with  Fadhl's  stricken  mother,  and  sent  special  mes- 
sengers to  break  the  sad  intelligence  to  his  bereaved 
brother.  In  like  manner,  Musa,  the  self-sacrificing 
successor-elect,  suddenly  died  ;  poisoned,  as  the 
world  thought  ;  and  the  kalif  wept  copiously  over 
the  remains,  and  buried  them  ostentatiously  beside 
those  of  the  great  Harun  al  Rashid  (a.d.  818). 
Then,  too,  the  brother  of  Fadhl,  Hasan,  governor  of 
Persia,  Hejaz,  and  Yemen,  went  mad,  and  had  to  be 
put  under  restraint.  Before  this,  however,  the  kalif 
had  asked  of  him  his  daughter  Buran  in  marriage, 
and  had  given  him  his  own  daughter  to  wife.  Thus, 
in  true  Oriental  fashion,  the  atmosphere  was  cleared 
by  means  of  the  assassin's  knife  and  the  poisoner's 
potion,  and  the  chief  actor  in  all  the  fiendish  work 
performed  the  part  of  a  bereaved  and  sympathetic 
mourner. 

Like  some  beneficent  genius,  the  dissimulating 
kalif  continued  his  march  towards  Bagdad,  flattering 
his  blinded  subjects  the  while  by  gifts  and  immuni- 
ties; he  resumed  the  black  garments  of  the  Abbas- 
sides,  undermined  his  rival  by  cozening  the  chief 
men  of  the  capital ;  and  finally  at  Nehrwan  he  was 
met  by  the  dignitaries  of  the  city  and  the  soldiery, 
who  had  come  forth  to  salute  him  as  the  kalif.  We 
have  now  reached  the  end  of  the  first  period  in  the 
reign  of  Mamun,  that  of  the  Alyite  troubles,  in 
which  he  was  under  the  control  of  his  minister  Fadhl. 


FEASTING  OVER  OPEN  GRAVES.  383 

The  second  stage  may  well  be  called  the  "  golden  " 
period,  for  in  it  the  kalifate  increased  in  riches  and 
magnificence  ;  bu±  it  was  also  a  time  in  which  some 
of  the  fruits  of  the  seeds  just  planted  came  to  per- 
fection, and  great  evils  threatened  the  kingdom. 

Now  the  kalif  changed  his  conduct  ;  the  Persian 
influence  was  encouraged  and  made  powerful  ;  Has- 
an was  released  from  his  restraint ;  and  soon  the 
marriage  with  his  daughter  was  consummated  as 
agreed,  but  in  a  style  of  magnificence  that  startled 
the  residents  of  Wasit,  the  city  of  the  bride's  father, 
accustomed  though  they  were  to  fetes  and  pageants  of 
the  greatest  extravagance.  The  festivities,  which 
seem  to  us  to  have  been  celebrated  over  open  graves, 
and  to  have  preserved  fresh  the  tragic  memory  of 
tales  of  poison  and  murder,  dissimulation  and  in- 
trigue, were  prolonged  through  nineteen  days  ;  the 
mother  of  the  bride  showered  upon  the  head  of  the 
illustrious  groom  a  thousand  pearls  of  great  cost ; 
and  furnished  him  a  mat  woven  with  golden  threads 
upon  which  to  stand  while  taking  the  easily  broken 
vows. 

Balls  of  amber  or  musk,  and  arrows,  were  thrown 
among  the  attendant  throngs,  each  giving  the  one 
who  received  it  a  title  to  a  fair  slave-girl,  a  pair  of 
horses,  a  piece  of  land,  or  some  other  valuable,  and 
directing  him  where  to  go  to  claim  the  gifts  dis- 
tributed by  the  novel  lottery.  Coins  of  gold  and 
silver  and  eggs  of  amber  were  also  lavishly  cast 
about,  to  be  picked  up  by  whoever  would.  The 
bridal  chamber  was  illuminated  by  a  taper  of  amber 
of  eighty  pounds'  weight,  supported  by  a  candlestick 


3^4  GOLD  AND  DkOSS. 

of  the  purest  gold  ;  and  the  sums  of  money  said  to 
have  been  lavished  were  so  extravagant  that  one 
hesitates  to  put  on  record  the  estimates  of  the  en- 
thusiastic chroniclers.  The  kalif,  and  all  his  fol- 
lowers, his  camels  and  camel-drivers,  his  boatmen 
and  his  horses,  were  guests  of  the  restored  vizier, 
who  was  either  overjoyed  at  the  brilliant  match  his 
daughter  had  made,  or  was  determined  to  strengthen 
his  hold  upon  the  office  to  which  he  had  been  lifted; 
for  he  was  seated  in  the  place  of  the  unfortunate 
Fadhl. 

Persians  now  ruled  the  provinces,  and  worse,  the 
rationalism  of  the  Persians  was  forced  upon  the 
faithful ;  the  memory  of  Moawia  was  formally  cursed 
in  public  (826)  ;  the  following  year  (827)  the  pre- 
eminence of  AH  was  proclaimed  with  equal  official 
solemnity  ;  and  to  the  horror  of  all  true  believers  in 
the  mission  of  the  prophet,  it  was  also  declared  that 
the  Koran  was  no  longer  to  be  deemed  an  eternal 
and  uncreated  book.  This  last  was  a  stroke  at  the 
foundation  of  Islam,  and  was  destined  to  exert  a 
long  and  important  influence. 

It  is  related  that  Mamun  had  received  from  Kabul 
a  present  of  a  volume  entitled  *'  The  Eternal 
Reason,"  which  attempted  to  undermine  Islam  by 
teaching  that  reason  is  the  only  source  of  religion, 
and  that  revelation  cannot  be  the  sure  ground  upon 
which  to  base  a  universal  cult.  To  seek  and  develop 
this  religion  of  reason  and  conscience  became  there- 
after his  persistent  effort.  He  insinuated  doubts  at 
first  by  means  of  meetings  for  discussion,  at  which 
no  one  was  permitted  to  appeal  to  revelation,  but 


SICEPTlCAL   CLUBS.  385 

only  to  reason.  Thus  unconsciously  Mamun  began 
a  process  by  which  that  implicit  faith  which  had 
been  at  once  the  foundation  and  the  inspiration  of 
Islam,  which  had  nerved  its  warriors  in  their  terrible 
warfare,  and  had  brought  the  nation  out  of  its 
former  obscurity  to  the  foremost  position  among  the 
peoples  of  the  world,  was  to  be  taken  from  them. 

It  was  a  strange  situation  when  the  Commander 
of  the  Faithful  thus  strove  to  overturn  the  national 
faith.  The  kalif  was  not  satisfied  with  such  mild 
proceeding  as  the  establishment  of  clubs  for  debate ; 
he  proceeded,  a  little  later  (830?),  to  threaten  all 
who  opposed  the  progress  of  his  private  opinions. 
He  convened  at  Bagdad  the  most  influential  jurists, 
and  caused  them  to  be  enquired  of  concerning  their 
opinions  regarding  the  Koran  "'  (a.D.  827).  Beshr, 
the  chief  judge,  was  asked  first :  "  Was  the  Koran 
created  or  not  ?  " 

*'  Allah  created  all  things,"  he  replied. 

"The  Koran  is  a  thing?"  continued  the  ques- 
tioner 

"  Yes." 

"  Therefore  in  your  opinion  the  Koran  is  created  ?  " 

"■  It  is  plain  that  the  Koran  is  not  the  creator," 
Beshr  replied. 

'*  That  is  not  the  question  ;  tell  me  unequivocally, 
is  the  Koran  created  or  not?" 

Thus  pressed,  the  great  judge  replied  that  he  had 
no  better  replies  to  make  ;  and  the  others  were  sub- 

*  For  an  extended  account  of  this  controversey,  see  "  Histoiredes 
Philosophes  et  Theologiens  Musulmans,"  by  Gustave  Dugat,  pages 
82-105, 


386  GOLD   AND  DROSS. 

jected  to  the  same  sort  of  an  inquisition,  d.r\d  with 
like  results.  Orders  were  given  that  t)ie  jurists 
should  be  examined  again,  and  threatened  with 
bodily  torture  if  they  still  proved  obstinate.  Torture 
and  the  dungeon  proved  arguments  too  strong  for 
many  of  the  learned  men,  and  they  gave  way  ;  but 
Beshr  and  others  stood  by  their  orthodoxy  and  were 
ordered  to  be  sent  to  Tarsus,  where  the  kalif  was 
at  the  moment  directing  a  new  war  against  the 
emperor  of  the   Eastern   empire.* 

The  war  between  the  kalif  and  the  emperor  just 
mentioned  had  a  nobler  origin  than  any  other  that 
we  have  had  to  contemplate,  for  it  grew  out  of  the 
desire  that  Mamun  was  inspired  with  to  advance  his 
people  in  science.  It  happened  that  a  Greek  captive 
had  been  brought  to  his  notice  on  account  of  his 
acquaintance  with  diverse  sciences,  and  Mamun  had 
discovered  that  he  had  gained  his  knowledge  from 
an  eminent  Byzantine  philosopher  known  to  history 
as  Leo  of  Thessalonica,  who  was  then  living  in  Con- 
stantinople in  indigence,  in  spite  of  his  wisdom  and 
celebrity.  Mamun  determined  to  invite  the  scholar 
to  Bagdad,  and  sent  him  a  letter  to  that  effect,  which 
Leo  placed  in  his  emperor's  hands,  thinking  it  not 
patriotic  to  hold  correspondence  with  an  enemy  to 

*  "  Nor  was  this  laxity  of  mind  atoned  for  by  any  severity  of 
morals.  .  .  .  The  chief  kadi  was  a  man  notorious  through  all 
Irak  for  the  obscenity  of  his  conversation  and  the  loathsome  charac- 
ter of  his  vices,  .  .  .  The  favorite  court  poet  was  a  scoffer  at 
religion  and  a  man  of  dissolute  life.  '  Multiply  thy  sins  to  the 
utmost,'  he  had  said  in  one  of  his  poems,  '  for  thou  art  to  meet  an 
indulgent  lord.'  .  .  .  An  extreme  license  of  manners  prevailed. 
The  very  mosques  were  '  rat-traps  set  by  Satan." — "  Islam 
under  the  Khalifs  of  Bagdad,"  p.  253. 


FIGHTING  FOR  A   PHILOSOPHER.  387 

his  country.  The  emperor  forbade  Leo  to  leave  his 
dominions,  and  gave  him  the  use  of  the  Church  of 
the  Forty  Martyrs  as  a  school,  adding  a  considerable 
pension.  Mamun  still  persisted  in  his  efforts  to 
gain  the  scholar,  and  Theophilus  increased  his 
honors  and  emoluments.*  This  action  on  the  part  of 
one  who  had  so  entirely  ignored  the  great  scholar  be- 
fore, made  Mamun  indignant,  and  he  determined  to 
use  force  in  the  effort  to  carry  out  his  design.  In  330 
he  declared  war. 

Assuming  command  of  his  army  in  person,  the 
kalif  marched  through  Mosul  and  Antioch  to  Tarsus, 
whence  he  made  incursions  into  the  emperor's  realm, 
taking  fortresses  and  capturing  prisoners,  but  return- 
ing to  Damascus  for  the  winter.  The  following 
spring  Theophilus  made  overtures  of  peace,  but  in 
doing  it  offended  the  kalif  by  a  breach  of  etiquette, 
and  he  undertook  a  new  campaign,  this  time  ventur- 
ing as  far  as  Heraclea,  and,  after  doing  much  de- 
struction, returning  a  second  time  to  the  capital  of 
Syria  for  the  winter.  The  war  continued  during  the 
year  832,  and  both  the  emperor  and  the  kalif  were 
personally  engaged  in  it,  the  seat  of  operations 
being  in  Cilicia.  There,  in  833,  Mamun  died  sud- 
denly, after  having  eaten  too  freely  of  fresh  dates 
brought  from  the  East.  His  last  words  were  coun- 
sels of  mercy,  addressed  to  his  brother  Motasim,  in 
which  he  urged  him  to  govern  for  the  good  of  the 

*  Leo  was  ordained  bishop  of  Thessalonica,  and  afterwards  be- 
came the  head  of  a  mathematical  school  at  Constantinople.  It  was 
he  who  invented  the  system  of  telegraphic  communication  used  at 
this  time,  which  by  means  of  fires,  conveyed  information  of  invasion, 
battles,  and  other  incidents  of  war. 


388  GOLD  AND   DROSS. 

people,  and  especially  to  treat  the  children  of  Ali 
with  the  humanity  which  the  descendants  of  the 
prophet  deserved. 

Such  was  the  career  of  one  of  the  greatest  rulers 
that  we  have  to  consider  in  the  story  of  the  Sara- 
cens, a  prince  celebrated  by  the  chroniclers  for  his 
clemency,  the  purity  of  his  habits,  his  justice,  and  his 
liberality.  He  was  not  so  accomplished  a  general  as 
his  father ;  but  he  continued  and  increased,  the 
enlightened  cultivation  of  letters  that  Harun  had 
begun,  and  his  reign  has  been  compared  to  the  times 
of  the  de'  Medici  in  Italy  and  of  Louis  XIV.  in  France. 
At  its  beginning  science  had  not  advanced  beyond 
the  first  steps,  in  spite  of  the  efforts  of  Mansur  and 
Harun,  but  his  court  became  its  sanctuary  and  the 
hearthstone  about  which  the  savants  freely  made 
themselves  at  home.  He  is  said  to  have  regarded 
scientific  men  as  beings  chosen  by  Allah  to  perfect 
human  reason  ;  as  the  lights  of  the  world,  the  guides 
of  humanity,  without  whom  man  would  return  to 
primitive  barbarism.  It  is  related  that  when  Mamun 
was  blamed  for  putting  a  Christian  at  the  head  of  a 
college  at  Damascus,  he  said  :  ''  I  chose  this  learned 
man  not  as  my  guide  in  religious  affairs,  but  as  my 
teacher  in  science." 

In  the  golden  middle  period  of  the  reign,  riches 
had  brought  luxury,  and  science  and  letters  had  dis- 
persed some  of  the  gross  customs  and  the  confused 
ideas  of  former  days.  Greek  treatises  in  astronomy, 
geography,  philosophy,  medicine,  had  been  trans- 
lated into  the  languages  of  Syria  and  Arabia,  and 
public  instruction  had  been  organized,  in  which  theory 


LUXURY  AND   LEARNING.  389 

and  practice  went  hand  in  hand  ;  and  the  sovereign 
was  the  intelhgent  director  of  the  whole. 

In  this  reign  the  philosopher,  Al  Kindy  (Abu  Yusuf 
ben  Isaac)  flourished,  and  also  a  Christian  author  like- 
wise called  Al  Kindy,  whose  work,  known  as  ''  The 
Apology  of  Al  Kindy,"  in  which  he  urges  a  friend  to 
embrace  Christianity,  is  still  extant.  It  is  one  of  the 
evidences  of  the  toleration  enjoyed  in  Mamun's 
court,  that  such  a  work  should  have  been  published 
and  the  author  not  executed  for  his  temerity.  The 
author  does  not  allow  the  prophetical  claim  of  Mo- 
hammed, he  treats  Islam  with  remarkable  freedom, 
and  assails  the  Koran  in  a  most  vigorous  style,  all  of 
which  seems  to  show  the  influence  of  the  kalif's 
decree  about  the  prophet's  book.  The  ^author,  an 
Armenian  Christian,  argues  in  favor  of  his  own 
religious  views  and  the  superiority  of  the  Hebrew 
and  Greek  Scriptures  with  equal  force  and  boldness.* 

*  See  "  The  Apology  of  Al  Kindy,"  by  Sir  William  Muir. 


XXXIX. 

GLIMMERINGS   AND   DECAYS. 

Mamun  had  designated  as  his  successor  his  brother 
Motasim,  but  the  army  was  bitterly  opposed  to  him 
and  made  a  powerful  effort  in  behalf  of  Abbas,  son 
of  the  former.  Just  as  an  alarming  revolt  threatened 
to  burst  forth,  Abbas,  with  patriotic  devotion,  threw 
himself  at  the  feet  of  his  uncle  and  swore  fealty  to 
him.  The  discord  was  immediately  quieted,  but  the 
seeds  of  decadence  had  been  sown  by  Mamun,  and 
Motasim,  by  following  the  precedents  he  had  estab- 
lished, nourished  and  increased  them.  He  continued 
the  persecutions  of  those  who  looked  on  the  Koran 
in  the  light  that  Mohammed  had  commanded,  and  so 
greatly  did  this  rouse  feeling  against  him  that  he  was 
fearful  for  his  personal  safety.  By  surrounding  him- 
self with  a  body-guard  recruited  from  prisoners  cap- 
tured in  Turkestan,  he  still  further  favored  the  foreign 
influence  which  Mamun  had  encouraged,  as  opposed 
to  that  of  the  Arabians.  So  much  was  the  un- 
friendly feeling  of  the  citizens  of  Bagdad  deepened 
against  him,  that  he  determined  to  remove  from  the 
capital,  and  it  was  on  this  account  that  he  founded 
a  new  city,  at  a  point  some  sixty  miles  to  the  north* 
west,  which  he  named  Samarra. 


THE    CAREER    OF  BABEK,  39 1 

Our  attention  is  now  called  to  a  sect  which  had 
arisen  during  a  former  reign  among  the  mountains  of 
Armenia,  based  upon  no  loftier  principle  than  oppo- 
sition to  every  thing  in  Islam.  Did  the  Koran  teach 
temperance,  these  infatuated  people  practised  inso- 
briety ;  did  it  call  for  purity,  they  revelled  in  animal- 
ism ;  was  pillage  discouraged,  the}-  robbed  and 
deprived  others  of  their  rights  without  scruple. 
With  their  other  absurd  errors  they  mingled  some  of 
the  tenets  of  Magianism,  a  belief  in  the  transmigra- 
tion of  souls,  and  certain  dogmas  of  the  sect  known 
as  IsmaHans.  The  chief  of  the  body  was  a  reckless 
adventurer  named  Babek  (and  called  Koremi,  the 
sensualist),  against  whom  all  opposition  had  been 
vain.  For  a  score  of  years  he  carried  on  his  nefarious 
operations  almost  with  impunity,  and  devastated 
many  fair  regions  in  both  Armenia  and  Irak. 

'Now  he  dared  to  threaten  the  capital  itself.  The 
emergency  was  great,  and  Motasim  entrusted  the 
army  that  was  to  act  against  him  to  a  general  of 
Turkish  birth,  who  encountered  Babek  in  Azerbai- 
jan, the  most  northern  portion  of  Persia,  in  the  region 
of  Lake  Oroomiah,  at  first  put  him  to  flight  after  a 
fierce  battle,  and  then  captured  him.  Babek  was 
brought  to  Bagdad,  was  exhibited  in  the  principal 
streets  on  the  back  of  an  elephant,  and  subjected  to 
the  jibes  and  insults  of  the  populace,  after  which  he 
was  handed  over  to  the  executioner  (a.d.  837).  His 
doctrines  did  not  immediately  die,  but  the  party  of 
which  he  was  the  soul  lost  all  political  importance. 

The  emperor  Theophilus  took  advantage  of  this 
disturbance  to  renew  the  struggle  that  had  suddenly 


392  GLIMMERINGS  AND  DECA  YS. 

been  brought  to  a  close  by  the  death  of  Mamun,  and 
Cappadocia  became  the  theatre  of  war.  Theophilus 
made  use  of  ferocious  wild  beasts  to  desolate  the 
regions  about  the  Oxus ;  of  stratagem  to  introduce 
spies  into  the  immediate  kingdom  of  the  kalif ;  and 
of  gold  to  purchase  the  friendship  of  the  fickle  citi- 
zens of  Bagdad ;  thus  by  one  means  and  another 
prolonging  the  struggle.  At  last,  in  836,  he  threw 
an  army  of  a  hundred  thousand  men  upon  the  bor- 
ders of  Syria,  sacking  cities,  and  devastating  a  region 
almost  up  to  the  limits  of  Mesopotamia.  Thence  he 
went  to  Melitene,  in  Cappadocia,  and  finally  returned 
to  Constantinople,  the  army  giving  itself  over  to  the 
utmost  excesses  on  the  way;  but  he  had  overreached 
himself.  The  kalif  was  maddened  by  the  devasta- 
tion of  his  dominions.  He  put  himself  at  the  head 
of  an  army  said  to  have  counted  two  hundred 
and  twenty  thousand  men,  and  advanced  upon 
Amorium,  a  city  reputed  to  have  been  the  richest 
and  most  populous  of  all  that  belonged  to  the  em- 
peror. On  the  buckler  of  every  soldier  was  inscribed 
the  name  of  the  place,  as  evidence  of  the  terrible  de- 
termination with  which  the  expedition  set  out.  Ar- 
rived at  Amorium,  after  months  of  journeying  and 
fighting,  the  Arabs  and  Turks  laid  siege  to  the  city, 
and  succeeded  in  entering  it  by  the  aid  of  a  traitor 
who  gave  information  of  the  weak  spot  in  the  forti- 
fications. The  massacre  that  ensued  has  few  par- 
allels among  those  of  Saracenic  history.  The 
greater  portion  of  the  citizens  were  put  to  the 
sword.  The  emperor  appealed  for  aid  to  the 
princes    of    Europe,  among   whoni     Louis    the    De- 


394  GLIMMERINGS  AND  DEC  A  YS. 

bonnaire,  of  France,  seemed  disposed  to  take  his 
part,  but  during  the  negotiations  all  three  rulers 
died, — Louis  in  840,  Motasim  in  841,  and  Theophi- 
lus  in  842. 

Motasim  had  reigned  eight  years  and  eight 
months ;  he  left  eight  sons,  eight  daughters,  and 
eight  thousand  slaves ;  eight  million  dinars ;  and 
eighty  million  dirhems;  for  which  reasons  he  has 
been  called  the  Octave.  Under  him  an  element  of 
weakness,  which  was  to  bear  terrible  fruit  in  the 
future,  was  considerably  increased.  In  the  former 
reign  the  Turks  had  been  made  customs-ofiiicers, 
in  place  of  the  Arabians,  but  Motasim  introduced 
them  to  his  privy-councils,  and  thus  greatly  added 
to  their  political  importance. 

Wathek,  eldest  son  of  Motasim,  assumed  supreme 
authority  in  842,  and  immediately  issued  a  decree 
confirming  the  laws  of  Mamun  regarding  the  nature 
of  the  Koran,  thus  continuing  the  war  that  had 
been  begun  against  his  own  subjects.  The  suici- 
dal effect  of  this  pertinacity  of  the  kalifs  is  illustrated 
in  connection  with  the  struggle  with  the  Eastern  em- 
pire that  still  continued.  It  happened  that  after  the 
Moslem  forces  had  made  head  against  the  army  of 
the  Greeks,  an  exchange  of  captives  was  arranged, 
but  Wathek  ordered  that  all  of  his  soldiers  who  did 
not  accept  his  views  regarding  the  Koran  should  be 
left  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  thus  cutting  off  a 
considerable  number  from  his  available  forces  and 
weakening  the  spirits  of  those  who  remained.  In 
consequence  of  such  actions  as  this,  the  Saracens  did 
not  gain  upon  their  enemy,  and  the  kalif  became  so 


THE  NATURE   OF   THE  KORAN.  395 

much  discouraged  that  he  died  in  the  year  847.  He 
had  not  possessed  the  elevated  personal  character  of 
his  father,  but  he  had  imitated  him  in  his  encourage- 
ment of  letters  and  liberal  arts,  and  is  said  to  have 
surpassed  him  in  the  magnificence  of  his  display.  He 
took  Mecca  and  Medina  under  his  special  care,  and 
the  whole  kingdom  prospered  so  greatly  that  beggary 
was  almost  unknown.  Wathek  followed  Mamun  in 
the  favor  which  he  showed  to  the  Alyites.  He  sub- 
jected the  Christians  and  Moslems  to  persecution  if 
they  would  not  conform  to  his  theological  views ; 
though  towards  the  close  of  his  reign  he  was  con- 
vinced that  this  policy  was  inexpedient. 

It  is  related  that  a  Syrian  prisoner  of  venerable  as- 
pect was  admitted  to  an  interview  with  him,  who  de- 
sired to  question  in  his  presence  the  minister  of  state 
on  this  subject  of  toleration.  When  permission  had 
been  given  him,  he  asked : 

''  What  is  this  doctrine  that  you  wish  to  estab- 
lish?" 

*'  That  the  Koran  is  a  created  book." 

"  This  is  essential  to  the  true  faith,  doubtless?" 

"  Yes,  verily." 

"  Did  the  apostle  oblige  the  faithful  to  accept  this 
or  did  he  leave  them  free?" 

''He  left  them  free." 

"  Was  the  apostle  of  Allah  acquainted  with  the 
dogma?" 

"  He  was  acquainted  with  it." 

''  Tell  me,  then,  why  you  wish  to  restrict  the  faith- 
ful in  regard  to  a  matter  in  which  the  apostle  per- 
mitted freedom." 


$g6  GLIMMERINGS  AND  DEC  A  VS. 

To  this  the  minister  had  no  reply  ready,  and  the 
old  teacher,  turning  to  the  kalif,  continued, 

"  In  the  fifth  sura  at  the  fifth  verse  we  read:  'This 
day  have  I  perfected  religion  for  you,  and  have  filled 
up  the  measure  of  my  favor  upon  you  ;  and  it  is  my 
pleasure  that  Islam  shall  be  your  religion  ! ' "  The 
old  man  then  proceeded  to  show  that  the  imposition 
of  an  article  of  faith  which  the  prophet  did  not  re- 
quire was  unauthorized,  and  the  kalif  was  so  thor- 
oughly convinced,  that  he  desisted  from  his  attempts 
to  base  upon  the  Koran  dogmas  that  had  been 
learned  from  Aristotle,  and  there  was  freedom  in  the 
matter  during  the  remainder  of  the  reign. "^ 

Wathek  had  died  without  naming  his  successor, 
and  his  foreign  courtiers,  the  Turks  (now  almost 
complete  masters  of  the  government),  embraced  the 
opportunity  to  assert  themselves  again  by  placing 
upon  the  throne  a  brother  of  the  late  kalif,  Mota- 
wakkel,  a  young  man  of  twenty-six,  of  light  and 
trifling  character,  who  found  pleasure  in  cruelty,  and 
indulged  in  bestial  intoxication.  He  had  the  good 
sense  to  know  that  the  Turks  who  had  placed  the 
crown  on  his  head  might  at  any  time  lift  it  off,  at 
the  risk  of  taking  his  head  too,  and  therefore  he  laid 
schemes  to  gain  partisans  among  other  classes  of  his 
'subjects.  He  issued  a  decree  re-asserting  the  uncre- 
ated nature  of  the  Koran,  and  denouncing  all  who 
should  deny  the  fact  ;  he  called  about  him  orthodox 
theologians,  who  were  encouraged  to  confound  the 
free-thinkers,  who  had  in  the  beginning  of  the  former 

*  See  "  The  Faith  of  Islam,"  by  Edward  Sell,  page  127,  for  more 
details  of  this  interview. 


39^  GLIMMERINGS  AND  DEC  A  YS. 

reign  been  countenanced  ;  he  renounced  all  sympathy 
with  the  Alyites,  cursing  their  memory  and  throwing 
down  the  mosque  at  Kerbala  which  covered  the 
tomb  of  Hosein.*  He  persecuted  the  Jews  and 
Christians,  ordering  that  they  should  never  ride  on 
horses,  but  only  on  asses  and  mules,  and  that  without 
stirrups ;  that  their  dwellings  should  be  marked  by 
figures  of  dogs  and  monkeys,  and  their  persons 
always  known  by  yellow  dresses ;  he  refused  them 
the  right  to  enter  the  baths  frequented  by  Moslems, 
or  to  occupy  any  office  of  public  service ;  they  were 
restricted  in  regard  to  their  schools  and  places  of 
worship ;  their  taxes  were  doubled ;  and  the  very  in- 
dications of  their  graves  were  obliterated. 

The  reign  was  disturbed  in  852  by  a  rising  in 
Armenia,  which  was  not  quelled  until  856.  The 
Moslem  possessions  in  Egypt  were  at  the  same  time 
threatened  by  the  Greeks,  and  Damietta  was  pillaged 
and  burned,  while  struggles  in  Asia  Minor  continued 
without  permanent  advantage  to  either  side.  Dur- 
ing these  wars  the  royal  residence  was  removed  to 
Damascus,  probably  that  the  kalif  might  the  better 
direct  the  operations  in  the  field  ;  but  it  was  finally 
again  established  at  Samarra,  where  a  palace,  surpass- 
ing in  some  respects  all  its  predecessors,  was  erected, 
from  which  the  kalif  continued  to  encourage  the 
gentler  arts  of  peace  to  such  an  extent  that  his 
reign,   like  those   of  Harun   and  Mamun,  has  been 

*  ' '  Every  one  who  either  in  act  or  word  questioned  a  single  syllable 
of  the  Koran  was  regarded  as  an  infidel,  and  was  in  peril  of  being 
torn  in  pieces  by  the  devout  people  of  Bagdad." — "  Islam  under  the 
Khalifs  of  Bagdad,"  page  273. 


.    MURDER   OF  MOTAWAKKEL.  399 

called  a  *'  golden  age."  All  the  splendor  came  to  an 
end,  however,  so  far  as  Motawakkel  was  concerned, 
on  the  night  of  the  twelfth  of  December,  861,  when 
the  chiefs  of  the  Turkish  body-guard  who  had  raised 
him  to  power,  under  direction  of  Wassif,  one  of 
jthem,  assassinated  him  in  his  palace  in  the  presence 
of  his  son,  Montaser,  with  whom  they  were  in 
league.  Under  Motasim  the  original  Turkish  body- 
guard of  four  thousand  increased  to  seventy  thousand, 
and  their  influence  was  augmented  in  proportion, 
Is  was  they  who  by  their  fiendish  cruelty  frightened 
him  from  Bagdad  ;  a  step  which  left  them  still  more 
powerful,  and  the  kalif  was  reduced  to  the  condition 
of  a  puppet  in  their  hands.  It  was  because  Mota- 
wakkel had  endeavored  to  be  independent  of  them, 
that  he  was  thus  taken  off. 

The  night  that  Motawakkel  was  slaughtered,  his 
son  Montaser  was  proclaimed  Kalif  by  the  same 
Turks  who  had  performed  the  like  duty  for  the 
murdered  ruler,  and  the  first  act  of  the  young  man 
was  to  endeavor  to  restrict  the  terrible  power  that 
he  now  so  well  knew.  He  endeavored  also  to 
counteract  the  effects  of  his  father's  hatred  of  the 
Alyites  ;  he  eagerly  entered  upon  the  work  of  re- 
building the  tombs  of  AH  and  Hosein ;  he  re- 
established pilgrimages  ;  put  an  end  to  the  persecu- 
tions of  the  partisans  of  the  unfortunate  descendants 
of  the  prophet ;  in  all  this  probably  trying  to  smother 
the  upbraidings  of  his  conscience,  which  constantly 
reminded  him  of  the  part  he  had  taken  in  the  murder 
of  his  father.  Still,  nothing  gave  him  peace  ;  he  rcv 
moved  from  the  palace  in  which  his  father  had  lived, 


400  GLIMMERINGS  AND  DEC  A  YS. 

in  which  he  had  been  killed,  in  which,  while  the 
kalif's  body  remained  unburied,  he  himself  had 
been  proclaimed  sovereign  ;  but  a  horrid  melancholy 
dogged  him  everywhere  ;  not  even  the  debaucheries 
into  which  he  pkmged  at  Samarra  could  give  him  a 
peaceful  stupidity,  and  after  a  dreary  reign  of  five 
months  he  died,  poisoned,  as  some  assert,  not  with- 
out reason. 

Montaser  had  intended  to  have  his  son  take  the 
throne  after  him,  but  the  autocratic  Turks  did  not 
agree  with  him,  and  it  was  given  to  a  son  of  Motasim, 
who  became  kalif  as  Mostain  in  862.  He  came  to 
the  throne  in  pursuance  of  a  bargain  with  the  chief 
of  the  Turks,  Wassif,  the  one  who  had  conspired 
with  Montaser  to  murder  Motawakkel,  by  the  terms 
of  which  his  own  brothers  were  given  up  to  the  body- 
guard. The  public  had  not  at  the  time  been 
sufficiently  familiarized  with  such  odious  bargains 
not  to  be  scandalized  by  this  one.  The  reign  of  the 
new  kalif  was  cursed  by  a  succession  of  bloody 
quarrels  growing  out  of  the  indignation  of  the  people 
thus  aroused  against  their  ruler.  Homs  witnessed 
the  first  outburst ;  for  some  days  the  streets  ran 
blood,  and  the  strife  was  not  quelled  until  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  kalif  there  had  been  numbered 
among  the  killed. 

War  in  Asia  Minor  now  caused  a  brief  intermission 
in  the  strife  at  home.  There  the  Moslem  governor 
of  Melitene  had  in  the  previous  year  made  a  cam- 
paign across  the  country  to  the  very  shores  of  the 
Euxine,  and  had  attacked  the  important  town  of 
Amissus,  desolating  the  region  wherever  he  went ; 


REVOLUTIONS.  4OI 

but  his  march  proved  too  venturesome,  and  his 
army,  set  upon  by  the  Greeks,  was  cut  to  pieces,  and 
its  leader  himself  killed.  The  impetuous  conquerors 
did  not  rest  until  they  had  actually  entered  the  bor- 
ders of  Mesopotamia.  Opposing  armies  from  the 
kalif  were  unable  to  cope  with  the  enemy,  and  their 
commander  returned  to  Constantinople  to  celebrate 
his  victory  in  the  circus.  There  was  no  enthusiasm 
for  war  left  in  the  Saracens  now ;  and  the  Turks, 
who  alone  w^ere  competent  to  meet  these  new 
enemies,  were  more  interested  in  promoting  their 
personal  advancement  than  in  looking  after  the 
public  weal.  Just  at  this  juncture  they  were 
struggling  to  wrest  power  from  some  appointees 
of  the  kalif  whom  they  did  not  approve.  Thus  the 
populace  and  the  army  found  themselves  at  swords' 
points  in  the  streets  of  Samarra,  in  a  general 
scramble  for  spoils.  Anarchy  reigned  supreme ; 
massacre  and  pillage  were  the  order  of  the  day: 
buildings  were  given  to  the  flames ;  a  bridge  over 
the  Tigris  was  burned  ;  and  the  carnage  did  not 
cease  until  there  were  no  new  victims  for  the  sword. 
The  example  of  the  kalif's  capital  proved  con- 
tagious ;  the  Alyites  rose  in  864,  took  possession  of 
Kufa,  and  proclaimed  another  kalif :  Tabaristan,  to 
the  west  of  Korassan,  in  modern  times  a  hunting- 
ground  of  the  Persian  Shah,  rebelled,  and  was  forever 
lost  to  the  kalifate  ;  Homs  revolted  against  its 
governor ;  and,  to  add  to  the  confusion  and  the  un- 
utterable strife,  the  very  Turks  themselves  became 
the  prey  of  jealousies,  and  began  to  assassinate  each 
Other  in  the  palaces  of  Bagdad ;  Mostain  was  soon 


402  GLIMMERINGS  AND  DEC  A  YS. 

involved,  and  the  insurgents  proclaimed  his  cousin, 
Motaz,  kalif  in  his  stead  ;  the  capital  was  besieged 
by  an  army  of  fifty  thousand  men ;  and  after  sus- 
taining the  horrors  of  a  siege,  capitulated.  The 
kalif  was  given  an  escort  to  Bassora ;  but  on  the 
way  was  put  to  death  at  Wasit  (a.D.  866). 

The  new  ruler  repeated  the  experience  of  the  old, 
with  this  exception,  that  matters  grew  worse,  if  pos- 
sible, from  year  to  year.  Determined  to  free  him- 
self from  the  slavery  to  the  Turkish  body-guard  that 
former  kalifs  had  suffered,  he  found  himself  merely 
forced  to  increase  their  powers  almost  without  limits ; 
and  finally  the  army,  when  the  exhausted  treasury 
proved  too  much  depleted  to  meet  the  demand  for 
their  pay,  revolted  against  its  own  leaders,  gave  the 
palaces  up  to  pillage,  and  seized  the  Commander  of 
the  Faithful  himself,  tore  his  robes  from  him,  thrust 
him  out  under  a  burning  sun,  forced  him  to  renounce 
his  authority,  and  then  plunged  him  into  a  dungeon, 
where  he  was  suffered  to  die  of  hunger  and  thirst 
(A.D.  869). 

Thus  the  ground  was  cleared  for  the  Turks  again, 
and  they  promptly  came  forward  with  a  son  of 
Wathek,  whom  they  set  up  as  kalif  under  the  title  of 
Motadi,  in  869.  He  came  to  the  throne  with  a 
character  that  promised  well  for  the  future  ;  but  it 
was  too  late  for  one  man,  however  influential,  to 
stand  against  the  terrible  tide  which  was  whirling 
the  nation  onwards  to  its  destruction.  He  forbade 
all  those  infractions  of  the  rules  of  the  Koran  that 
had  been  common  for  many  years ;  wine  was  de- 
nounced ;    games    of   hazard    were     forbidden ;    the 


.     THE   TURKISH  BODY-GUARD.  403 

musicians,  dancers,  and  buffoons  who  infested  the 
court  were  driven  out ;  the  primitive  faith  was  re- 
estabHshed  ;  justice  was  awarded  by  the  kalif  in  per- 
son ;  and  the  finances  of  government  were  systemat- 
ically ordered.  It  seemed  as  though  the  days  of  the 
early  kalifs  had  returned.  Alas,  the  turbulent  king- 
makers of  Turkestan  could  not  be  brought  to  act  on 
such  primitive  principles  as  these  ;  they  knew  and 
cared  nothing  for  the  prophet,  and  they  revolted 
against  the  good  rule  of  Motadi ;  Samarra  was  in- 
vaded, blood  was  shed,  and  the  powerless  ruler  was 
called  upon  to  abdicate.  He  stood  up  manfully 
against  riot  and  misrule,  but  it  availed  nothing  ;  he 
was  ignominiously  insulted  and  tortured.  At  last  a 
poignard  was  driven  to  his  heart,  on  the  twenty, 
first  of  June,  870. 


XL. 

THE   GRIP    OF   THE   TURK   TIGHTENS. 

Distant  Korassan  now  calls  again  for  notice. 
We  remember  that  during  the  reign  of  Mamun, 
Taher,  the  most  popular  as  well  as  the  most  able  of 
his  generals,  had  established  himself  firmly  in  the 
affections  of  the  people  of  that  important  region. 
His  descendants  had  profited  by  his  labors,  and 
though  they  had  nominally  always  been  under  the 
sway  of  the  kalifs,  they  had  really  been  carrying  on 
a  government  of  their  own,  their  dynasty  being 
known  as  that  of  the  Taherites,  or  Taherians. 

During  the  reign  of  Motawakkel  there  had  arisen 
a  family  known  as  the  Soffarides,  Kettle-makers,  or 
Braziers  (soffar,  a  brazier),  from  the  fact  that  it  was 
founded  by  a  man  whose  father  had  followed  that 
useful  trade,  and  who  himself  began  life  in  that  occu- 
pation. His  name  was  Yakub,  and  he  was  noble, 
generous,  and  courageous.  Quitting  the  trade  of 
making  and  patching  kettles,  Yakub  put  himself  at 
the  head  of  a  body  of  reckless  men  and  determined 
to  make  his  way  in  life  by  force  of  arms.  Fighting 
was  the  noble  occupation  in  those  days,  as  it  re- 
mained for  ages  after.  Yakub  managed  (in  849)  to 
take  a  portion   of  their  dominions  away  from  the 

404 


YAKUB   THE  SOFFAR.  405 

Taherites,  was  applauded  for  his  skill  by  the  people 
whom  he  conquered,  and  after  a  while  was  made 
their  ruler.  Thus  the  dynasty  of  Soffarides  began. 
When  the  kalifs  were  in  trouble,  in  the  reign  of 
Motaz,  Yakub  embraced  the  opportunity  to  wrench 
more  of  Korassan  from  the  Taherites  in  867,  and  then 
his  sovereignty  was  acknowledged  beyond  the  limits 
of  his  own  stolen  possessions.  In  873  he  snatched 
the  remainder  of  the  land  from  the  Taherites,  and 
thus  put  an  end  to  that  dynasty,  which  had  been  in 
existence  for  about  fifty  years. 

It  was  while  these  events  were  occurring  that  the 
kalif  Motadi  was  taken 
off  by  the  assassin.  Mo- 
tamed  was  a  ruler  to  whom 
the  king-making  Turks 
could  have  no  objections  ; 
for  he  was  a  complete  ^^^^  °^  ^"^"^  (^•^-  ^^o)- 
nullity,  so  far  as  exerting  any  considerable  influence 
upon  public  affairs  was  concerned.  He  is  repre- 
sented as  an  amiable  person,  who  enjoyed  games 
and  feasts,  cultivated  society,  encouraged  letters  and 
literary  men,  and  was  instrumental  in  bringing  to 
notice  many  essays  upon  the  light  topics  enjoyed  by 
fashionable  society  at  his  court.  He  allowed  Yakub 
to  wrench  Korassan  from  the  kalifate,  never  to  be 
regained  ;  but  he  sent  a  force  against  him  when  he 
found  that  he  was  threatening  Bagdad.  The  armies 
met  at  a  spot  not  far  from  Wasit,  and  Yakub  was 
defeated.  He  died  soon  after  ;  but  his  brother,  Amr, 
became  his  successor,  and  he  effected  a  treaty  with 
Motamed  by  which  he  was  acknowledged  sovereign 


406  THE  GRIP  OF  THE  TURK  TIGHTENS. 

of  the  provinces  that  Yakub  had  conquered.*  Thus 
the  kahf  lost,  and  the  Soffarides  gained  Seistan, 
Faristan,  Korassan,  and  other  provinces.  Gf  eater 
losses  were  to  come. 

We  have  to  trace  another  disaster  to  the  .'ays  of 
Mamun,  those  golden  days  when  it  seemed  to  the 
polite  world  as  though  the  bright  festivities  of  the 
sovereign's  marriage  were  but  a  prophecy  of  more 
extravagant  glories  in  the  future,  instead  of  the  fate- 
ful forbodingof  an  oncoming  doom.  An  enfianchioed 
slave  named  Tulun,  had  in  that  reign  received  some 
honorable  commissions  from  the  sovereign,  which 
succeeding  kalifs  had  continued,  and  when  hi&  son 
Ahmed,  who  was  born  in  835,  came  to  a  sufificient 
age,  he  was  made  governor  of  Egypt.  He  saw  that 
thekalif  was  weak,  and,  like  Yakub,  thought  that  by 
a  little  warlike  enterprise  he  might  win  power  for 
himself  and  his  descendants  ;  and  most  men  in  those 
days  were  as  desirous  to  make  a  good  position  for 
their  children  as  they  were  to  ensure  their  own  for- 
tune. From  873,  when  he  took  his  government,  he 
laid  the  plans  for  his  undertaking,  and  in  about  three 
years  he  was  prepared  for  the  onset,  for  he  had  then 
made  himself  master  of  Egypt.  He  invaded  Syria, 
took  Damascus,  Homs,  Aleppo,  Kinnesrin,  Antioch, 
and  was  not  stopped  until  he  reached  Tarsus  ;  and 
then  only  because  treason  had  been  excited  in  his 

*  It  happened  that  Amr  was  able  also  to  relieve  Motamed  from  the 
attacks  of  a  rival  kalif,  Mohammed,  son  of  Zeid,  who  had  asserted 
his  claims  as  a  descendant  of  Ali.  Mohammed  was  defeated,  and  fell 
into  Amr's  hands,  and  was  sent  to  Motamed,  either  as  an  evidence  of 
friendship,  or  as  a  threat  that  the  kalif  himself  was  not  too  strong  to 
fear  the  Soffarides. 


THE   TULUNIDES  PAY  TRIBUTE.  4O7 

camp  by  the  commander  of  the  kalif  s  forces,  his  own 
brother,  Mowafek,  whom  he  designed  to  be  his  suc- 
cessor. Some  of  the  cities  he  had  conquered  were 
taken  back  by  Ahmed,  but  before  he  had  accom- 
plished his  complete  intentions  death  overtook  him 
(about  883).  The  dismemberment  of  the  kalifate 
did  not  stop,  however,  nor  was  the  dynasty  of  the 
Tulunides  broken  off,  for  it  held  the  captured  terri- 
tories a  score  of  years  more."^ 

Motamed  died  at  Bagdad  in  the  year  892,  and  his 
brother  Mowafek  just  before  him,  so  that  the  succes- 
sion did  not  fall  to  him  as  Motamed  had  desired,  but 
to  Motaded,  a  son  of  Mowafek.  This  prince  smiled 
upon  the  Alyites,  and  on  that  account  has  received 
slight  justice  from  the  historians  of  his  country,  be- 
cause at  that  time,  as  well  as  at  the  present  moment, 
the  Alyites  or  Shias  form  but  a  small  fraction  of  the 
followers  of  the  prophet.f  It  was  one  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  prophet,  as  we  know,  to  demand  that 
all  people  should  either  acknowledge  the  faith  he 
taught,  or  pay  tribute  to  the  treasury  of  the  Saracens. 
Acting  upon  this  custom,  Motaded  acknowledged 
the  independence  of  the  Tulunides,  but  only  after  he 
had  secured  a  considerable  tribute  from  them. 

*  All  this  time  Kairwan,  which  had  been  founded  about  670,  was 
governed  by  a  dynasty  known  as  Aglabites,  from  Ibrahim,  the  son  of 
Aglab,  who  had  been  appointed  by  Harun  al  Rashid  about  the  year 
800.  Between  the  reigns  of  Wathek  and  Motamed,  the  Aglabites 
had  attacked  Italy  (842),  ravaged  Rome  (846),  had  lost  most  of  what 
they  had  grasped  in  Italy  (871),  and  had  taken  Syracuse  (87S). 
The  dynasty  was  overthrown  by  Obeid  Allah  el  Mehdi,  a.d.  909. 

\  There  are,  it  is  computed,  at  present  about  one  hundred  and 
eighty  million  Moslems,  and  among  them  but  ten  millions  are  counted 
among  the  AlyiteS  or  Shias. 


408  THE  GRIP  OF  THE  TURK  TIGHTENS. 

The  constantly  recurring  outbursts  of  religious 
sectaries  gave  Motaded  trouble,  but  he  proved  equal 
to  them.  A  fanatic  named  Hamdan  and  surnamed 
Karmath  had  arisen,  who  had  allied  himself  with  the 
Ismalians  (who  under  Babek  made  so  much  disturb- 
ance during  the  reigns  of  Mamun  and  Motasim),  and 
had  obtained  a  considerable  following  in  the  region 
about  Kufa.  He  taught  his  disciples  that  they 
should  practise  entire  community  of  goods,  have  no 
respect  for  revelation  (excepting,  probably,  his  own), 
and  that  they  might  consider  themselves  free  from 
the  duties  of  prayer  and  alms,  as  well  as  from  all 
the  ordinary  considerations  of  humanity  towards 
their  enemies.  These  Karmathians,  as  they  were 
called,  had  for  many  years  desolated  large  tracts  of 
country  in  Syria,  Arabia,  and  even  in  Egypt,  but 
Motaded  arrested  their  destructive  progress,  and  in 
895  repaired  some  injuries  that  they  had  made  in  the 
mosque  at  Mecca,  considerably  improving  it  and  en- 
larging its  walls  and  enclosures. 

Motaded  found  time  also  to  look  to  the  Soffarides, 
and  remembering  how  they  had  conquered  the  rival 
kalif  in  Korassan,  felt  that  they  might  some  day  try 
forces  with  him.  He  therefore  entered  into  an 
alliance  with  Ismail  Samana,  a  rising  warrior  who 
had  begun  to  establish  a  monarchy  in  Transoxania, 
the  region  beyond  the  Oxus,  with  his  capital  at 
Bokhara.  Ismail  was  exceedingly  pleased  to  have 
such  an  opportunity  for  war  with  his  rising  neighbor 
and  started  very  promptly  towards  Korassan  with  a 
sufficient  army.  Amr  was  sagacious  enough  not  to 
wait  for  his  coming,  but  crossed  the  border-line  and 


A  LUDICROUS  MISCHANCE. 


Aog 


gave  battle.  Just  at  the  critical  moment,  the  steed 
on  which  Amr  rode  becoming  excited,  took  the  bit 
in  his  mouth  and  rushed  into  the  enemy's  lines,  car- 
rying his  startled  master  with  him.  An  accident  so 
unexpected  and  ludicrous  enabled  the  forces  of 
Ismail  to  gain  a  speedy  but  rather  inglorious  victory 
(A.D.  898). 


AN    ARABIAN    ENCAMPMENT. 


The  day  of  this  victory,  as  Amr  was  sitting  in  his 
tent  carefully  guarded,  it  is  said  that  he  ordered  one 
of  his  attendants  to  prepare  some  food.  The  only 
cooking  utensil  to  be  found  was  a  bucket  in  which 
grain  and  water  were  given  to  the  horses,  and  that 
was  soon  placed  over  a  fire  upon  a  crooked  stick.   It 


4tO         THE   GRIP   OF  THE  TURK  TIGHTENS, 

had  not  been  in  position  long  when  a  hungry  cur 
passed  by,  and  eagerly  thrust  his  head  into  the 
bucket  to  seize  the  meat  that  he  saw,  but  drew  it 
back  again  the  moment  he  felt  the  heat.  Alas,  the 
sudden  movement  loosened  the  bucket  from  its 
wooden  support,  and  the  beast  found  it  hanging  to 
his  head  by  its  handle.  As  he  ran  away  in  fright, 
the  general  laughed  so  violently  that  his  attendants 
were  brought  to  his  side  in  alarm.  Amr  said  that  it 
had  just  occurred  to  him  that  his  commissary  had 
in  the  morning  thought  a  hundred  camels  hardly 
sufficient  to  convey  the  kitchen  implements  of  the 
chief  of  the  Soffarides  ;  but  that  in  the  afternoon  a 
single  cur  was  able  to  carry  away  the  only  utensil 
that  he  could  command.*  The  dynasty  was  ex- 
tinguished at  the  death  of  Amr  (a.d.  901),  though 
he  nominally  left  the  government  to  his  grandson, 
Taher  ben  Mohammed  III. 

The  death  of  Amr,  and  the  extinction  of  the 
Soffarides,  did  not  bring  peace  ;  for  Ismail,  who  had 
aided  the  kalif,  saw  the  weakness  of  the  Moslems, 
and  determined  to  set  himself  up  in  opposition 
to  them,  as  we  shall  soon  see.  Meantime,  however, 
Motaded  died,  and  left  his  throne  to  Moktafi,  his 
son,  in  the  year  902.  Moktafi  was  a  sovereign  who, 
under  different  circumstances,  might  have  added  to 
the  glories  of  the  kalifate,  but  at  this  time  every 
thing  seemed  to  work  against  ito  The  kalif  was 
obliged  not  only  to  keep  his  sword  drawn  against 
outside  enemies,  but  his  own  dominions  swarmed 
with  parties  of  various  minds,  who  were  all  desirous 

*  See  Vambery's  "  History  of  Bokhara,"  paeje  63. 


.  THE  KA  RMA  THIA  NS  IN  S  YRIA .  4^1 

to  pull  down  the  supreme  authority  in  the  state  in 
the  wicked  hope  of  dr-^^-^jng  themselves  up.  Among 
the  most  determined  intriguers  were  the  Turkish 
body-guards,  who  were  gaining  greater  and  greater 
strength,  and  at  last  were  to  strangle  the  head  of  the 
state  himself. 

When  Moktafi  came  into  power  he  found  that  the 
domains  of  Ismail  extended  beyond  the  Gihon  or  the 
Oxus  over  Turkestan,  and  from  the  borders  of  Koras- 
san  to  those  of  Kathay  or  China.  When  the  SofTar- 
ides  were  put  out  of  the  way,  he  added  Korassan  to 
these  vast  regions,  and  grasped  a  considerable  portion 
of  Persia,  and  thus  he  established  a  new  dynasty  of 
opposing  rulers  known  as  the  Samanades,  who  now 
took  the  place  of  the  Soffarides  as  thorns  in  the 
kalif  s  side.*  The  Karmathians,  too,  were  still  able 
to  do  great  damage  to  the  kalifate,  and  it  very  soon 
became  necc-aary  to  send  forces  to  Syria  to  repress 
their  bloody  outbursts  of  murder  and  brigandage. 
The  general  who  undertook  this  enterprise  was  at 
first  beaten,  but  his  organized  troops  afterwards 
overcame  the  fanatics  ;  though  he  punished  them  so 
severely  that  their  rage  was  kindled  again,  and  burned 
more  hotly  than  before.  This  time  they  directed 
their  force  against  the  Meccan  caravans,  and  it  is  said 

*  Professor  Vambtry  says  that  after  the  national  existence  of  Irak 
"had  been  apparently  blotted  out  by  the  unfortunate  battle  of 
Kadesia,  and  Persia  had  been  overrun  and  devast  ed  by  the  naked 
barbarians  of  the  Arabian  desert,  some  sparks  of  Persian  civilization 
still  smouldered  beneath  the  desecrated  altars,"  especially  in  Tran- 
soxania,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  Mohammedan-Persian  habits 
of  thoughts  had  held  sway  for  two  centuries  and  a  half. — **  History 
of  Bokhara,"  page  67. 


412  THE  GRIP  OF  THE  TURK  TIGHTENS. 

that  twenty  thousand  pilgrims  were  massacred  in  the 
desert  as  they  pursued  their  peaceable  way  towards 
the  shrine  of  the  prophet.  In  all  of  these  attacks 
and  reprisals  the  kalif  could  not  claim  that  he  was 
aggrieved,  for  the  Karmathians  did  but  little  worse 
than  the  prophet  himself  had  done,  in  sending  expedi- 
tions against  similar  caravans,  when  the  sword  was  first 
unsheathed.  The  attack  of  the  Karmathians  upon 
the  caravans  excited  all  Arabia,  however,  and  by  the 
power  of  a  general  outburst  they  were  overwhelmed, 
and  for  a  little  time  the  distracted   Moktafi  had  rest. 

It  did  not  occur  to  the  kalif  that  peace  was  the 
natural  condition  of  a  kingdom,  and  as  soon  as  he 
found  himself  relieved  from  the  fanatics  of  the  des- 
ert, he  began  a  campaign  against  those  Tulunides 
who  had  snatched  his  Egyptian  possessions  from 
him.  In  this  effort  he  was  successful,  and  the  dy- 
nasty of  the  Tulunides  was  overthrown,  all  its  princes 
were  put  to  the  sword,  and  the  Egyptian  provinces 
restored  to  the  kalifate  (about  907).  At  this  happy 
juncture  Moktafi  died  and  the  sceptre  passed  to  his 
brother,  Moktader,  a  boy  of  but  thirteen  years  of 
age,  in  the  year  908. 

It  was  something  new  in  the  world  of  Islam  to 
have  a  sovereign  of  such  tender  years  on  the  throne, 
and  the  opportunity  for  a  revolution  was  too  tempt- 
ing to  be  permitted  to  pass  by  without  improvement. 
A  strong  party  was  very  soon  organized  against  the 
young  prince,  and  its  members  took  the  oath  of  al- 
legiance to  Abdalla,  son  of  Motaz.  Abdalla  sent  an 
insulting  order  to  Moktader  to  keep  within  the  walls 
of  his  palace  *'  with  his  mother  and  her  maidens," 


THE  RISE  OF  FATIMITES.  413 

and  at  the  same  time  gave  commands  to  the  captain 
of  his  guards  to  seize  the  palace,  not  counting  upon 
opposition  ;  but  he  was  mistaken.  The  attendants 
of  the  kahf  prepared  to  resist  any  onslaught,  and 
when  the  captain  of  Abdalla's  guards  came  to  en- 
force his  orders,  he  was  met  with  flights  of  arrows; 
a  sharp  skirmish  followed  ;  Abdalla  took  to  his  heels, 
but  was  overtaken  and  slain  and  his  partisans  dis- 
banded. 

Probably  Abdalla  was  the  better  quahfied  of  the 
two  claimants  to  be  ruler ;  he  was  of  mature  years, 
an  author  of  repute,  and  a  man  of  considerable  wis- 
dom and  judgment.  Moktader,  on  the  other  hand, 
was  governed  by  his  eunuchs  and  his  wives,  and 
gazed  at  the  agony  of  his  land  as  its  calamities  mul- 
tiplied without  the  slightest  sympathy  or  emotion. 
He  was  incapable  of  maintaining  order  in  his  king- 
dom, or  even  of  controlling  his  own  palace,  and 
though  he  remained  long  on  the  throne,  the  record 
of  his  reign  is  crowded  with  accounts  of  the  falling 
away  from  loyalty  of  cities  and  provinces,  and  the 
revolts  of  bold  chiefs  who  made  him  tremble,  in  mo- 
ments when  he  thought  at  all  on  the  affairs  of  state. 
His  use  of  public  money  was  scandalous,  even  in 
those  degenerate  times ;  and  it  is  said  that  he  wasted 
a  larger  sum  than  the  great  Harun  had  been  able  to 
amass  in  his  whole  life  ! 

During  this  reign  (a.d.  909)  there  arose  in  Africa  a 
family  known  in  history  as  the  Fatimites,  who  pre- 
tended to  be  descendants  of  Ali ;  though  Moez,  one 
of  the  kalifs  of  the  line,  when  asked  to  what  branch 
he  belonged,  once  said,  placing  his  hand  upon  his 


414  THE  GRIP  OF  THE  TURK  TIGHTENS. 

drawn  scimetar :  "  Here  is  the  founder  of  my  dynas- 
ty!" and  throwing  a  handful  of  gold  coins  among 
his  soldiers,  exclaimed :  ''  Here  is  my  genealogical 
line ! "  ^ 

It  seems  pretty  certain  that  Mohammed  declared 
to  Ali,  though  it  is  not  recorded  in  the  Koran,  that 
at  some  time  in  the  future  there  was  to  rise  a 
Mahdi,  one  directed  by  Allah,  who  should  be  in 
his  line,  destined  to  bring  justice  into  the  world, — 
a  sort  of  savior.  The  name  Mahdi  came  into  his- 
tory at  about  the  year  685,  in  the  reign  of  Abd  el 
Melik,  when  Moktar  made  his  desperate  onslaught 
upon  the  kalif  and  met  his  overwhelming  defeat. 
From  that  time,  however,  the  idea  of  a '  coming 
Mahdi  spread  until  it  was  well  established  in  Per- 
sia, Africa,  Turkey,  Egypt,  and  in  our  own  time  in 
the  Soudan,  where  it  brought  to  the  death  Gordon, 
"  that  last  hero  of  Puritan  Christianity,  that  man 
who  seems  to  have  stepped  from  the  pages  of  Mil- 
ton into  the  jumble  of  the  nineteenth  century," — 
that  Gordon  who  appeared  to  his  Berber  murderers 
to  be  the  Antichrist  destined  to  be  conquered  by  the 
promised  Mahdi.f  It  was  as  a  protest  against  the 
expectations  of  the  Alyites  that  Mansur  gave  to  his 
son  the  name  Mehdi. 

Obeidalla  was  the  member  of  this  family  who 
gave  a  new  impulse  to  its  fanatic  determination  to 

*  This  anecdote  about  Moez,  and  much  more  about  the  Fatimites, 
may  be  found  in  the  Abbe  Marigny's  "  Histoire  des  Revolutions  de 
I'Empire  des  Arabes,"  vol.  i.,  page  85. 

f  See,  in  connection  with  the  whole  subject  of  the  Mahdi,  that 
admirable  monograph,  "  Le  Maiidi  depuis  les  origines  de  I'lslam 
jusqu'a  nos  jours,"  par  James  Darmsteter,  Paris,  1885. 


'Vfeiiaklfr^^''^ 


4IO  THE  GRIP  OF  THE  TURK  TIGHTENS. 

win  its  rights  as  its  members  understood  them.  He 
announced  again  the  prophecy  that  Mohammed  was 
to  be  represented  by  a  descendant  who  should  arise 
within  three  centuries  after  his  own  death  ;  and, 
assuming  the  title  Mahdi,  subdued  the  Aglabites 
and  the  other  tribes  which  had  revolted  from  the 
kalif,  and  soon  became  master  of  Africa  from  Egypt 
to  the  Atlantic.  He  founded  a  capital,  Mahadi,  on  the 
site  of  a  Roman  town  on  the  coast  a  hundred  miles 
south  of  Tunis,  not  very  far  from  Kairwan,  which 
had  then  been  held  by  the  Aglabites  for  more  than 
a  century.  Obeidalla  ravaged  the  shores  of  Italy 
and  Sicily  with  impunity,  but  in  his  attempts  to  in- 
vade Egypt,  he  did  not  succeed. 

Constantine  VH.  (Porphyrogenitus,  born  in  the 
purple),  a  young  prince  of  six  years,  ascended  the 
throne  at  Constantinople  in  the  year  911,  and  his 
mother,  Zoe,  who  was  then  living,  exerted  con- 
siderable influence  over  him.  The  armies  of  the 
empire  were  sent  into  Asia  Minor,  and  there  made 
many  reprisals  from  the  kalifate  ;  at  a  later  period, 
they  ventured  as  far  as  Mesopotamia,  and  carried  in 
safety  a  large  number  of  captives  to  Constantinople. 
An  invasion  from  Bulgaria  gave  Zoe  so  much  solici- 
tude, however,  that  she  sent  two  ambassadors  to 
the  court  of  Moktader  to  negotiate  for  an  exchange 
of  prisoners. 

The  visitors  from  Constantinople  brought  many 
costly  presents  from  their  mistress,  and  the  kalif 
determined  to  dazzle  them  by  an  exhibition  of  mag- 
nificence which  he  hoped  would  excel  any  thing  they 
had  ever  seen.     They  were  not  permitted  to  visit 


w 


41 8  THE  GRIP  OF  THE  TURK  TIGHTENS. 

him  directly,  but  were  received  by  his  vizier,  who 
gave  them  audience  in  a  garden-palace.  The  ave- 
nues and  courts  were,  we  are  told,  thronged  by  pages 
and  soldiers  ;  the  apartments  were  hung  with  tapes- 
try of  untold  cost  ;  and  hosts  of  high  officers  sur- 
rounded the  vizier,  and  stood  at  the  right,  at  the 
left,  and  behind  his  seat,  as  the  strangers  approached 
and  besought  an  interview  with  his  master. 

On  the  day  appointed  for  the  more  important 
audience,  the  courts,  passages,  and  avenues  of  the 
palace  were  filled  with  men  in  full  armor  ;  all  the 
apartments  were  furnished  with  the  most  gorgeous 
art  of  the  Oriental  upholsterers  ;  the  approach  to  the 
palace  was  guarded  by  one  hundred  and  sixty  thou- 
sand soldiers  standing  in  formal  ranks  ;  next  to  them 
were  ranged  seven  thousand  pages  of  the  closets  and 
chief  eunuchs,  four  thousand  being  whites  and  three 
thousand  blacks,  arrayed  in  silk,  their  belts  re- 
splendent with  jewels ;  seven  hundred  chamberlains 
were  also  displayed  ;  and  boats  of  many  shapes  and 
of  the  most  gorgeous  colors  floated  upon  the  waters 
of  the  Tigris  hard  by. 

The  two  ambassadors  were  admitted  first  to  the 
palace  of  the  chief  chamberlain,  and,  astonished  at 
the  magnificence  that  they  saw,  supposed  that  they 
*  were  approaching  the  august  presence  of  the  Com- 
mander of  the  Faithful.  When  the  royal  palace  was 
finally  reached,  the  ambassadors  beheld  thirty-eight 
thousand  pieces  of  silk  brocade  embroidered  with 
gold,  and  twenty-two  thousand  magnificent  carpets, 
hanging  upon  the  walls.  Two  menageries  of  beasts 
wild  by  nature  but  tamed  by  art,  wandered  about 


A  GORGEOUS  COURT. 


419 


eating  from  the  hands  of  their  custodians,  among 
them  being  a  hundred  lions,  each  with  its  keeper. 
From  these  beasts  the  ambassadors  were  led  to 
the  Palace  of  the  Tree,  in  which  was  an  artificial 
tree  of  eighteen  branches,  with  leaves  of  varied 
colors,  and  birds  of  gold  and  silver  of  every  variety 
and  size  perched  upon  its  limbs,  each  of  them  in- 
geniously constructed  to  sing  by  means  of  machinery 


1      1          ^fc 

^aj- 

^0 

^^^P 

^^^S^^s 

^8 

^^^fc 

^^^^^^H 

VIEW    OF   A   MOSOUE   AT   BAGDAD. 


in  their  small  bodies.  They  were  next  led  through 
a  passage,  the  walls  of  which  were  hung  with  ten 
thousand  coats  of  mail,  into  a  garden  furnished  with 
innumerable  articles  of  great  cost  and  rarity. 

After  such  displays,  they  were  brought  into  the 
presence  of  Moktader  himself,  who  was  discovered 
sitting  on  a  couch  of  ebony  inlaid  with  gold  and 
silver,  to  the  right  of  which  hung  nine  necklaces  set 


420  THE  GRIP  OF  THE  TURK  TIGHTENS. 

with  jewels  that  outshone  the  light  of  day.  The 
ambassadors  and  their  interpreter  were  not  permit- 
ted to  approach  nearer  than  within  nine  hundred 
cubits  of  the  kalif.  When  the  interview  was  con- 
cluded, they  were  taken  through  the  palaces  and 
were  shown  elephants,  a  giraffe,  lynxes,  and  other 
animals  richly  caparisoned  ;  after  which  they  were 
themselves  clad  in  costly  robes  of  honor,  and  were 
given  presents  of  fifty  thousand  dirhems  each.  It 
should  be  said  that  they  were  brought  to  the 
palace  at  the  hour  of  mid-day  worship,  through  *'  the 
streets  of  the  minarets,"  and  their  visit  was  so  timed, 
that  the  muezzins  chanted  the  call  to  prayer  simul- 
taneously, and  with  such  effect  that  the  earth  almost 
quaked  at  the  sound,  and  the  strangers  were  struck 
with  mortal  fear.  It  is  difficult  to  say  how  far  from 
reality  this  extravagant  description  is,  but  that  it 
gives  some  idea  of  the  barbaric  display  of  the  court 
of  the  kalifs  at  the  time,  there  can  be  but  little 
doubt."^ 

The  exhibition  brought  peace,  but  scarcely  had  it 
been  effected  when  the  terrible  Karmathians  burst 
forth  again  in  Syria,  and  the  faltering  kalif  proved 
utterly   incompetent    to   make   head    against    them. 

*  This  account,  which  is  to  be  found  in  a  number  of  books  on  the 
subject,  is  taken  from  the  great  work  of  Abulfeda,  the  most  cele- 
brated Saracenic  author,  who  was  a  native  of  Damascus,  where  he 
was  born  about  1273.  His  "Abridgment  of  the  History  of  Man- 
kind," covers  the  history  of  many  Eastern  nations,  besides  that 
of  the  Saracens  from  the  birth  of  Mohammed  to  1328,  the  date 
at  which  it  was  prepared,  three  years  before  the  author's  death, 
Abulfeda  was  a  prince  and  warrior  as  well  as  an  author,  and  was 
present  at  the  siege  of  St.  Jean  d'Acre,  in  1281.  For  the  period  of 
the  Crusades  his  history  is  valuable. 


THE  KA  RMA  THIA  NS  ATTA  CK  ME  CCA .         421 

No  person  but  one  of  the  eunuchs  of  the  court 
seemed  to  have  presence  of  mind  at  the  moment,  and 
he,  though  a  supporter  of  the  sovereign,  deposed 
him  for  his  incapacity,  and  placed  his  brother  Kaher 
on  the  throne  at  Bagdad.  For  three  days  Kaher 
enjoyed  his  exaltation,  and  then  his  fickle  masters 
cast  him  down  because  forsooth  he  did  not  their  de- 
sire for  the  bounties  customary  to  be  distributed 
among  the  soldiers  at  the  accession  of  a  kalif.  The 
irons  were  broken  from  the  limbs  of  Moktader,  and 
he  was  replaced  on  the  throne  of  Mohammed  !  At 
this  juncture  Mosul  declared  itself  independent,  and 
there  was  not  force  enough  in  the  kalifate  to  restrain 
the  city  from  breaking  the  slight  bond  that  held  it 
to  its  allegiance.  Then,  again,  the  Karmathians 
made  a  dash  upon  Mecca,  and  captured  it,  mas- 
sacring many  pilgrims  as  they  had  during  the  former 
kalifate  ;  pillaging  the  Kaaba ;  carrying  off  the  black 
stone,  and  leaving  the  well  Zem-zem  obstructed  by 
heaps  of  dead  bodies. 

Encouraged  by  these  disorders  a  soldier  of  for- 
tune ventured  a  revolution  in  Persia,  and  re-estab- 
lished the  worship  of  the  magi  in  the  region  that  he 
conquered.  Bagdad  was  thrown  in  the  utmost  con- 
fusion by  this  irruption  so  near  home,  fearing  that 
the  days  of  Yacub,  the  coppersmith,  were  to  be  re- 
peated ;  but  the  usurper  took  himself  off  in  the 
direction  of  Tabaristan,  and  the  city  breathed  more 
freely.  The  relief  was  but  temporary,  however,  for 
an  intrigue  broke  out  in  the  palace,  which  led  to  the 
disgrace  of  that  eunuch  who  had  deposed  Moktader, 
and  he  was  so  irritated  that  he  raised  an  army  and 


422  THE  GRIP  OF  THE  TURK  TIGHTENS. 

laid  siege  to  the  capital,  which  at  the  time  was  the 
capital  of  only  a  small  territory  lying  just  about  it. 
At  the  suggestion  of  his  attendants,  Moktader  cast 
about  him  the  cloak  of  the  prophet  and  advanced 
upon  the  revolters  accompanied  by  a  number  of 
councillors  each  carrying  a  copy  of  the  Koran  in  his 
hand.  Instead  of  respecting  the  sacred  habit  and 
the  once  honored  volume,  the  besiegers  forced  the 
kalif  and  his  companions  to  flight,  and  when  at  last 
he  fell  into  their  hands  and  demanded  that  they 
should  respect  the  successor  of  Mohammed,  they 
exclaimed,  as  they  pierced  him  with  their  poignant 
swords :  "  We  know  thee  well !  thou  art  not  the 
representative  of  the  prophet,  but  of  the  devil !  " 
Thus  fell  the  kalif  Moktader,  and  thus  did  the  grip 
of  the  Turks  tighten  upon  the  weakening  kalifate,  in 
the  year  932. 


c^^ 

^^w^ 

^^i^ 

^^.^•;^^?^ 

^K: 

XLI. 

THE   FATAL  BLOW. 

Historians  are  agreed  that  the  downfall  of  the 
kalifate  was  caused  by  the  rivalries  of  opposing 
rulers,  the  growth  of  anarchical  and  destructive 
sects,  the  falling  away  from  their  allegiance  of  remote 
provinces,  and  the  increasing  power  and  ambition  of 
the  Turkish  mercenaries,  all  of  which  are  easily 
shown  to  date  from  the  reigns  of  Mamun  and  Mo- 
tasim."^  The  prophet  had  given  his  followers  as 
their  guide  a  book  which  contained  many  valuable 
counsels  adapted  to  the  conditions  in  which  he 
found  them  ;  he  had  told  them  to  go  forth  and  con- 
quer the  earth  to  the  religion  of  Islam  ;  and  they 
had  followed  his  instructions ;  but  their  kingdom 
had  grown  to  an  extent  of  which  Mohammed  could 
scarely  have  dreamed ;  and  had  thus  grown  in  a 
period  of  time  so  brief  that  no  opportunity  had  been 
allowed  the  rulers  to  learn  how  to  manage  regions  so 
extensive  and  people  so  diverse. 

The  Berbers  of  Africa ;  the  barbarians  of  Turkes- 
tan ;  the  lively  Saracens  of  the  Arabian  deserts ; 
the  proud  Syrians  with  their  Biblical  memories  ;  the 

*  See  Freeman's  "  Lectures  on  the  Saracens  "  ;  Marigny's  "  Revo- 
lutions," vol.  i.,  page  xxxix.;  and  Gibbon's  "  Decline  and  Fall  of  the 
Roman  Empire,"  chapter  lii.    - 


424  THE  FATAL  BLOW. 

rich  and  powerful  Persians ;  the  dwellers  in  Armenia 
and  Mesopotamia ;  the  Egyptians  and  the  tribes  on 
the  borders  of  Kathay ;  the  inhabitants  of  the  pen- 
insula of  Spain ; — all  these  were  not  to  be  moulded 
into  a  homogeneous  nation  under  one  religious  faith 
in  the  short  space  of  a  single  century.*  Nor  was  it 
to  be  expected  that  a  series  of  kalifs  wielding  abso- 
lute power,  and  using  the  sword  and  the  art  of  the 
poisoner  to  uphold  their  authority,  could  endure  for 
any  considerable  length  of  time  without  giving  rise 
to  jealousies  and  intrigues,  especially  in  an  Oriental 
land  where  cunning  and  deceit,  duplicity  and  guile, 
were  the  usual  principles  of  action  in  court  circles. 

We  have  seen  that  the  later  kalifs  were  incapable 
of  performing  properly  the  onerous  duties  of  their 
positions,  and  that  they  were  wont  to  call  upon  one 
strong  neighbor  to  help  them  against  another.  We 
have  seen  a  powerful  ally  become  in  turn  an  equally 
powerful  antagonist,  so  soon  as  he  had  learned  that 
the  kalif  depended  upon  him  ;  and  we  know  that 
faith  was  never  kept  with  a  sovereign  when  there 
seemed  to  be  any  thing  to  be  gained  by  treachery. 
We  have  seen  that  weak  and  luxurious  kalifs  called 
to  their  counsels  strong  ministers  who  took  ad- 
vantage of  their  positions  to  overthrow  the  masters 

*  "  The  original  legislation  of  Mohammed  being  made  for  the 
Arabs  of  the  desert,  it  was  necessarily  narrow  in  its  scope,  and  there 
is  some  difficulty  in  applying  it  to  the  wants  of  more  developed  and 
civilized  communities.  To  accomplish  this,  it  has  been  necessary  to 
call  in  tradition,  casuistry,  and  special  pleading  ;  but  there  are  too 
few  broad  principles  and  too  many  practical  applications  and  petty 
details  in  the  Mussulman  code  to  make  casuistry  an  easy  matter." 
Schuyler's  "  Turkistan,  "  vol.  i.,  page  171. 


THE  PROCESS  OF  DEC  A  Y.  425 

who  trusted  them.  We  have  seen  provinces  fall 
away  from  their  allegiance  merely  because  they  were 
so  remote  from  the  capital  that  there  was  no  sense 
of  dependance  upon  it,  and  no  sympathy  with  its 
ruler.  Thus,  as  the  kalifate  became  rich,  it  became 
also  weak ;  and  as  it  grew  feeble,  it  began  to  disin- 
tegrate. The  process  was  not  rapid  at  first,  but 
every  new  symptom  of  dissolution  begot  another, 
until  at  last  the  entire  system  was  honeycombed 
with  political  and  religious  rivalry  and  undermined 
by  intrigues  and  deceit. 

When  the  life  of  Moktader  had  fled  from  his 
pierced  body,  his  fickle  murderers  turned  to  that 
brother  whom  they  had  before  placed  upon  the 
throne  and  thrust  from  it,  and  a  second  time  clothed 
him  with  the  empty  honors  of  the  kalifate.  With 
the  usual  cunning  of  his  people,  Kaher  secretly  de- 
termined to  break  the  bonds  that  held  him,  and  the 
only  means  that  he  knew  by  which  he  could  make 
his  seat  on  the  throne  secure  were  torture  and  im- 
prisonment. He  cast  one  nephew,  who  threatened 
to  become  a  rival,  into  a  dungeon,  walled  him  up 
and  left  him  to  perish  in  slow  torment.  His  own 
mother  was  tortured  and  put  to  death  ;  certain  of  his 
generals  were  murdered  merely  because  they  seemed 
dangerous  ;  and  at  last  his  soldiers,  thinking  that 
they  had  found  a  master  instead  of  a  slave,  mutinied 
against  him.  They  entered  his  palace  at  every  gate, 
and  forced  him  to  flight.  He  was  soon  found  and 
deposed  (934),  and  his  eyes  were  put  out  that  he 
might  not  again  trouble  the  masters  of  the  state. 
An  author  says  that  as  he  was  in  the  mosque  some 


426  THE  FATAL   BLOW, 

time  after  this,  he  was  approached  by  a  man  dressed 
in  clothes  which  spoke  of  former  wealth,  who  said : 
''  Good  gentleman,  pray  give  me  some  alms  :  I  was 
once  your  kalif,  and  now  am  your  beggar  !  "  Kaher 
subsequently  died  in  misery.  His  reign  lasted 
eighteen  months. 

During  this  brief  reign  a  new  dynasty  from  Persia 
began  to  promise  trouble  to  the  kalifate.  It  origin- 
ated somewhat  as  follows :  One  Kabus,  a  ruler  in  the 
Caspian  province  of  Gilan,  came  to  the  court  of  the 
Samanides,  and  found  that  military  employment 
which  was  then  so  often  used  as  a  means  of  over- 
turning kingdoms.  He  was  entrusted  with  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  province  of  Dilem,  in  which  he 
exhibited  the  qualities  of  a  strong  ruler,  and  estab- 
lished himself  so  completely  that  he  was  able  to 
bequeath  his  throne  there  to  his  son  Buya,  from 
whom  the  dynasty  of  the  Buvides  (called  also  the 
Dilemites)  is  named  (a.d.  933). 

In  the  year  934  the  princely  king-makers  of  Bag- 
dad went  to  the  prisons  and  took  out  a  nephew  of  the 
late  kalif  to  put  on  the  throne  from  which  Kaher 
had  just  been  cast  down.  He  is  known  as  Radi. 
He  proved  to  be  of  a  docile  temperament,  and  look- 
ing back  at  the  fate  of  his  predecessors  who  had 
allowed  their  natural  desire  to  be  rulers,  in  reality  as 
well  as  name,  to  influence  them,  determined  to  re- 
press every  rising  ambition  and  manly  feeling.  To 
make  his  masters  well-disposed  towards  him,  he 
appointed  one  of  them  prince  of  princes,  or  autocrat, 
giving  him  such  unlimited  power  as  Fadhl  had 
wielded  in  the  reign  of  Mamun,  and  depriving  him- 


COIN    OF   THE    KALIF    RADI. 


RADPS  DEBASED  EASE.  427 

self  of  the  right  to  influence  the  administration  of 
government  or  to  expend  any  of  its  treasure  in  an 
independent  manner.  The  office  of  vizier  became 
utterly  unimportant  in  the  presence  of  this  mighty 
officer.  This  complete  resignation  accomplished  its 
purpose,  and  Radi  was 
allowed  to  give  himself 
up  to  the  enjoyment 
of  a  debased  ease,  and 
to  an  indulgence  in 
pleasure  which  brought 
his  miserable  existence 
to  a  close  in  the  year  940.  In  the  midst  of  his  pleas- 
ure-seeking, Radi  found  time  to  cultivate  letters,  and 
the  following  specimen  is  a  translation  by  Professor 
Carlyle  of  one  of  his  better  poems  : 

"  Mortal  joys  however  pure, 

Soon  their  turbid  source  betray  ; 
Mortal  bliss,  however  sure, 
Soon  must  totter  and  decay. 

"  Ye  who  now  with  footsteps  keen, 

Range  through  hope's  delusive  fields 
Tell  us  what  the  smiling  scene 
To  your  ardent  grasp  can  yield. 

**  Other  youths  have  oft  before 

Deemed  their  joys  would  never  fade, 
Till  themselves  were  seen  no  mOre- — 
Swept  into  oblivion's  shade. 

"  Who,  with  health  and  pleasure  gay, 
E'er  his  fragile  state  could  know, 
Were  not  age  and  pain  to  say — 
Man  is  but  the  child  of  woe?*' 


428  THE  FAl^AL   BLOW. 

His  lighter  style  is  seen  in  the  following,  addressed 
to  a  blushing  woman  : 

"  Leila,  whene'er  I  gaze  on  thee 
My  altered  cheek  turns  pale  ; 
While  upon  thine,  sweet  maid,  I  see 
A  deepening  blush  prevail. 

"  Leila,  shall  I  the  cause  impart 

Why  such  a  change  takes  place  ? — 
The  crimson  stream  deserts  my  heart 
To  mantle  on  thy  face." 

The  Prince  of  Princes,  with  all  his  power,  was  not 
strong  enough  to  hold  back  the  kalifate  from  its 
destruction.  The  Karmathians  raged  more  effectu- 
ally than  ever,  and  a  shameful  treaty  was  made  with 
them  as  the  only  means  of  enabling  pilgrims  to 
approach  the  holy  Kaaba  ;  governors  revolted  on 
the  right  hand  and  on  the  left  ;  Korassan,  the  Tran- 
soxanian  possessions,  Persia,  Mesopotamia,  Egypt, 
Africa, — all  were  torn  away  from  the  feeble  kingdom, 
and  the  luxurious  kalif  was  shut  up  with  his  haughty 
Prince  of  Princes  in  the  city  of  Bagdad.  The  capi- 
tal itself  became  the  scene  of  frightful  anarchy,  and 
when  its  magnificence  had  been  well-nigh  destroyed 
by  the  oppression  and  misrule  of  the  masterful 
Turks,  the  citizens  called  upon  the  adventurer  then 
representing  the  Buvides  to  come  and  rule  over 
them.  He  came,  and  found  it  not  necessary  to  fight 
a  battle  :  the  city  fell  into  his  hands  in  the  year  945, 
and  for  a  century  and  more  it  was  under  the  control 
of  the  new  dynasty.  The  kalif  had  renounced  all 
temporal  power,  and  remained  simply  the  spiritual 
head  of  the  Moslem  church. 


END  OF  THE  POWER  OF  THE  K A  LIES.        4:?9 

Meantime  the  miserable  existence  of  Radi  had 
come  to  an  end  in  the  year  940,  and  with  him  ter- 
minated the  rule  of  the  kalifs  ;  for  though  a  line  was 
continued  for  three  centuries  longer,  it  was  composed 
of  rulers  still  more  under  the  control  of  the  Turkish 
guards  than  he.  Radi  was  the  last  of  the  kalifs  who 
in  any  measure  sustained  the  ancient  character  of  the 
sovereigns  of  his  line.  Never  after  his  time  did  a 
kalif  write  poems  that  were  collected  into  a  volume; 
no  longer  did  a  kalif  publicly  harangue  the  faithful 
of  a  Friday  in  the  mosque ;  nor  did  another  hold 
train  and  table  after  the  olden  style  of  magnificence  ; 
no  other  one  disposed  the  armies  and  the  finances 
after  his  own  will ;  nor  even  held  familiar  compan- 
ionship with  his  friends,  for  all  power  was  hence- 
forth lodged  in  the  hands  of  the  Prince  of  Princes, 
and  of  the  ministers  who  gave  that  officer  his  su- 
premacy. The  vizier,  like  the  kalif,  was  emptied  of 
political  influence,  and  the  Prince  of  Princes  usurped 
an  authority  not  unlike  that  possessed  in  Rome  by 
the  Praetorian  Guards,  in  France  by  the  Maires  du 
Palais,  and  in  Constantinople  for  five  hundred  years 
by  the  terrible  Janizaries.^     The  foreign  masters,  as 

*  The  Janizaries,  organized  first  in  1329,  were  not  disbanded  until 
1826.  They  passed  through  the  same  stages  that  we  have  marked  in 
the  history  of  the  Turkish  body-guards.  At  first  they  numbered  but 
one  thousand  ;  in  1362  there  were  ten  thousand  of  them  ;  in  three 
centuries  they  had  immensely  increased,  and  in  time  they  became  the 
real  masters  of  the  empire,  deposing  and  executing  the  sultans  at 
will.  They  were  the  terror  of  the  world.  The  Prsetorians,  organ- 
ized by  Scipio  Africanus,  were  also  at  first  few  in  number  ;  but 
Augustus  made  them  a  permanent  body  of  ten  thousand  (B.C.  27),  and 
their  power  increased  so  much  that  they  put  up  the  imperial  crown 
at  auction,  a.d.  193.     The  body  was  not  disbanded  until  a.d.  312. 


430 


THE  FATAL   BLOW. 


they  followed  one  after  another,  kept  up  the  form 
of  supporting  a  kalif,  though  they  thus  forced  him 
to  be  a  helpless  puppet  in  their  hands. 


The  city  of  Bagdad  was  itself  overthrown  in  the 
year  1258,  but  between  the  death  of  Radi  and  that 
date,  two  dynasties  had  been  established  upon  the 
ruins  of  the  kalifate,  while  a  third  had  temporarily 
interjected   itself  between    them.     The   rule  of  the 

Buvides  came  to  an 
end,  as  we  shall  see, 
in  1050,  when  the  Turk- 
ish dynasty  of  the  Sel- 
juks  was  established  at 
Bagdad. 

The  sympathies  of 
the  Buvides  were  Aly- 
ite,  the  sixteen  sover- 
eigns who  composed 
the  line  claiming  de- 
scent from  the  husband 
of  Fatima  ;  they  ruled 
one  hundred  and  twen- 
ty-seven years,  during  all  but  nine  of  which 
they  were  sovereigns  of  the  kalifs.  The  Fatim- 
ites  made  themselves  masters  of  Africa  and  Egypt 
(953-972),  and  built  the  city  of  Cairo  (970).  Dur- 
ing the  same  period  the  Gaznivide  dynasty,  or- 
iginating, in  961,  in  the  strongly  fortified  town  of 
Gazni,  in  Afghanistan,  on  the  confines  of  Korassan, 
conquered  a  region  extending  from  the  Ganges  to 
the  Tigris,  and  from  the  Oxus  to  the  Indian  Ocean. 


GOLD    COINS     OF     FATIMITE     KALIFS. 
(A.D.   1050   AND    1072.) 


MAHMUD  OF  GAZiVI.  431 

It  reached  its  climax  in  1032,  and  ended  in  1 133.  In 
the  period  of  its  glory,  Mahmud,  sultan  of  Gazni 
(997-1032),  astonished  all  Asia  by  his  conquests  ; 
twelve  times  he  invaded  India,  and  every  time  he 
brought  away  vast  amounts  of  spoils  to  enrich  his 
capital.  It  is  related  that  he  took  as  much  pleasure 
in  propagating  Islam  as  in  adding  to  his  military 
glory,  though  it  must  be  confessed  that  he  was  a 
bloody  apostle,  following  the  example  of  the  prophet 
after  he  had  drawn  the  sword,  rather  than  imitating 
his  peaceful  earlier  days.  He  encouraged  commerce, 
however,  and  patronized  letters,  and  it  was  during 
his  long  reign  of  forty-two  years  that  the  greatest 
poet  of  Persia  flourished,  Abul  Casem  Mansur,  bet- 
ter known  as  Ferdusi  (the  Paradisic),  who  had  been 
compared  to  Homer  for  his  fecundity,  genius,  and 
imagination. 

It  is  said  by  the  Abb6  de  Marigny  that  when  the 
courtiers  of  Mahmud  were  assured  that  death  was 
about  to  snatch  him  from  his  kingdom,  they  ordered 
brought  into  his  presence  all  the  precious  stones, 
vessels  of  gold  and  silver  and  chests  of  gold  that  he 
had  acquired  in  his  wars,  hoping  in  that  way  to 
amuse  his  closing  moments.  For  an  entire  day  the 
procession  of  riches  was  kept  passing  by  the  royal 
invalid,  and  when  all  was  over,  he  exclaimed  :  '*  What 
cruel  fatigues,  what  perils,  what  torments  of  body  and 
mind  has  it  not  cost  me  to  make  these  gains  !  How 
uncertain  such  riches  are!  How  much  trouble  and 
fear  is  endured  in  keeping  them  !  Behold  the  climax 
of  all  these  evils  is  found  in  the  last  and  greatest  of 
them — the  owner  must  part  with  them  when  he  parts 


43^  THE  FATAL  BLOW. 

with  life  !  "  With  such  words,  Mahmud  breathed  his 
last  in  a  palace  adorned  with  all  the  magnificence 
that  Oriental  art,  aided  by  unlimited  wealth,  could 
furnish, — amid  walls  adorned  with  marble  and  gold 
and  precious  stones,  which  he  had  named  with  unin- 
tentional sarcasm.  Felicity.* 

As  the  Gaznivide  dynasty  receded  from  its  great- 
est power,  the  teeming  north  was  preparing  to  send 
another  horde  of  strong  barbarians  down  upon  the 
still  weakening  Saracens.  In  Turkestan  there  lived 
and  fed  their  numerous  flocks  a  family  of  four  broth- 
ers descended  from  one  Seljuk,  who  again  traced  his 
line  far  back  into  the  darker  ages  of  his  dark  land.f 
Year  by  year  the  flocks  of  the  brothers  increased, 
and  they  sought  new  friends  as  they  added  to  their 
riches,  in  order  to  make  themselves  strong  in  the 
land.  After  a  time  pasturage  failed  for  their  im- 
mense herds,  and  they  looked  for  new  forage-ground 
in  the  regions  beyond  the  Oxus  and  to  the  south  of 
their  original  home. 

Not  long  after  the  Gaznivides  had  established  their 
dynasty,  these  northerners,  who  called  themselves, 
after  their  father,  Seljuks,  found  themselves  in  the 
region  of  Bokhara  and  Samarkand  looking  over  into 
the  lands  of  their  rising  neighbors.  They  asked  and 
finally  obtained  permission  to  enter  Korassan,  and 
it  was  not  long  before  the  subjects  of  the  Gaznivides 
were  heard  complaining  that  they  were  constantly 

*  Mahmud  built  at  Gazni  a  grand  mosque,  a  museum  of  natural 
history  filled  with  wonderful  specimens,  and  a  library.  He  is  reputed 
the  first  Moslem  monarch  who  took  the  title  sultan,  and  he  was  the 
first  Moslem  emperor  of  India. 

\  See  Vambery's  "  History  of  Bokhara,"  chapter  vi. 


THE  SELJUK  DYNASTY.  433 

vexed  by  their  new  neighbors,  and  they  were  forced 
to  send  troops  against  the  intruders  whom  they  had 
permitted  to  approach  so  close  to  them.  The  Turks 
had  learned  war  from  their  able  father,  and  though 
they  were  often  attacked,  they  always  overcame  the 
Gaznivides  ;  as  the  invaders  from  the  north  have 
so  often  defeated  the  southerners  in  this  history. 
This  it  was  that  undermined  and  weakened  the  pow- 
erful dynasty,  so  that  after  making  themselves  mas- 
ters of  Korassan  (about  1040)  and  taking  Ispahan 
from  the  Buvides  in  105 1,  their  leader,  Togrul  Beg, 
entered  Bagdad  in  1055,  delivered  the  kalif  from  the 
tyranny  of  the  Buvides,  and  made  himself  Prince  of 
Princes.  Thus  again  the  kalif  exchanged  the  tyranny 
of  one  foreigner  for  that  of  another. 

The  second  ruler  of  the  Seljuk  dynasty  embraced 
Islam,  and  extended  his  dominions  greatly ;  the 
third  captured  Jerusalem,  and  insulted  and  op- 
pressed pilgrims  from  Christian  lands  so  griev- 
ously as  to  give  rise  to  the  Crusades.  After  his 
death  the  power  of  the  dynasty  became  less,  though 
it  did  not  finally  succumb  until  1299,  and  then  the 
Turkish  empire  rose  from  its  ruins.  During  the 
reign  of  the  third  Prince,  Melek  Shah  (1073-1093), 
the  Assassins,^  a  branch  of  the  Ismailians,  came  into 

*  When  Benjamin  of  Tudela,  the  intelHgent  Jewish  traveller  from 
Navarre,  reached  Jebilee  in  1163,  he  wrote:  "In  this  vicinity  live 
the  people  called  Assassins,  who  do  not  believe  in  the  tenets  of 
Mohammedanism,  but  in  those  of  one  whom  they  consider  like  unto 
the  prophet  Karmath.  They  fulfil  whatever  he  commands  them, 
whether  it  be  a  matter  of  life  or  death.  He  goes  by  the  name  of 
Sheikh-al-Hashishim,  or  'Their  Old  Man,' by  whose  command  all 
the  acts  of  these  mountaineers  are  regulated.     His  residence  is  in 


434  THE  FATAL   BLOW. 

prominence  in  the  person  of  their  chief,  Hasan,  a 
man  of  Persian  descent,  known  in  history  as  "  The 
Old  Man  of  the  Mountains."  This  order  became 
extensive  and  powerful,  and  acting  in  secret,  was 
difficult  to  be  met  and  defeated  in  its  nefarious 
schemes.  It  finally  came  to  an  end  at  the  same 
time  that  Bagdad  fell  (1258).  During  their  career, 
the  Assassins  murdered  kalifs  and  other  eminent 
men,  both  Moslems  and  Christians;  they  captured 
strong  castles,  and  ravaged  extensive  regions ;  with- 
out moral  restraints,  they  fortified  themselves  for 
their  atrocious  work  by  putting  their  bodies  under 
the  intoxicating  influence  of  hashish  (whence,  prob- 
ably, their  name,  Hashishim  —  Assassins) ;  they 
studied  a  catechism  in  which  they  were  taught  the 
most  successful  means  of  worming  themselves  into 
the  confidence  of  their  unsuspecting  victims,  in  or- 
der to  thrust  their  cruel  daggers  more  surely  into 
their  hearts.  With  fifty  thousand  men  at  their  com- 
mand, the  Assassins  became  terrible  to  the  Crusad- 
ers, as  well  as  to  the  Persians  and  the  Saracens ;  but 
their  order  contained  in  itself  the  germs  of  disinte- 
gration from  the  operation  of  which  they  would  have 
fallen  had  they  not  been  overcome  by  the  Mongols. 
On  account  of  the  restlessness  of  their  own  rulers, 
the  Seljuks  did  not  reign  free  from  embarrassment. 
Soon  after  the  year  1 100,  there  was  born  in  Armenia, 
or  Western   Persia,  a  man  known  as  Ayub,  or  Job, 

the  city  of  Kadmus,  the  Kedemoth  of  Scripture,  in  the  land  of 
Sichon"  [Joshua  xiii:i8].  Wright,  "Early  Travels  in  Palestine  " 
(Bohn),  page  78.  Baudier  gives  a  glowing  account  of  the  earthjy 
paradise  in  which  Hashishim  was  said  to  live. 


ARABIAN    bKKAD-SELLER   AT  JERUSALEM. 


43^  THE  FATAL  BLOW. 

and  surnamed  "  The  Star  of  Religion,"  who  became 
the  father  of  a  son  called  in  history  Saladin,  one  of 
the  most  interesting  heroes  of  Saracenic  annals. 
Ayub  had  been  governor  under  the  Seljuks,  in  his 
native  town  on  the  Tigris,  but  entered  the  service  of 
a  Syrian  prince,  and  from  that  region  his  son,  who 
became  the  beau-ideal  of  Saracenic  chivalry,  went  to 
Egypt,  where  in  a  short  time  he  rose  to  influence,  and 
finally  established  himself  as  ruler  of  that  country, 
as  well  as  of  Syria,  Assyria,  Arabia,  and  Mesopo- 
tamia. In  1 193  he  died,  but  he  left  a  record  as  an 
intelligent  sovereign,  even  his  enemies  attributing  to 
him  the  noblest  qualities  of  courage,  moderation, 
greatness  of  soul,  and  justice,  while  for  centuries 
evidences  of  his  wise  administration  remained  in 
the  form  of  fortresses,  roads,  dikes,  and  canals  that 
he  had  built. 

It  was  during  the  kalifate  of  Mostanjed,  in  1 164, 
that  Benjamin  of  Tudela  visited  Bagdad.  There 
were  frightful  disorders  in  Persia  at  the  time  ;  the 
governors,  unfaithful  to  their  allegiance,  were  as- 
suming independence  and  quarrelling  among  them- 
selves for  supremacy.  The  empire  of  the  Seljuks  had 
been  divided  into  four  parts  at  the  death  of  Melek 
Shah,  each  ruled  by  a  sovereign  calling  himself  sul- 
tan ;  disorders  had  followed  that  event ;  and  the  dy- 
nasty of  the  Fatimites  was  about  to  be  brought  to 
an  end  in   Egypt.* 

Benjamin  of  Tudela  gives  us  a  glimpse  of  the 
capital  of  the  kalifate  in  the  days  of  its  decline.  He 
says  that   the   kalif    enjoyed   the   same   supremacy 

*  The  i^atimites  were  overthrown  by  Saladin  in   11 71. 


FADING  GRANDEUR.  Al7 

over  all  Mohammedan  kings  that  the  Pope  then 
held  over  Christian  potentates,  though  this  was,  of 
course,  merely  a  formal  supremacy.  The  palace 
of  the  kalif  was  three  miles  in  extent  (or  the 
grounds,  rather),  containing  a  park  filled  with  all 
kinds  of  trees  and  all  sorts  of  beasts.  A  pond 
was  supplied  with  water  from  the  Tigris ;  and 
whenever  the  kalif  wished  to  sport  and  carouse, 
birds,  beasts,  and  fishes  were  prepared  for  him  and 
for  his  invited  guests.  He  was  very  friendly  towards 
the  Jews,  Benjamin  is  careful  to  say,  understood  all 
languages,  was  well-versed  in  the  Hebrew  law,  and 
could  read  and  write  the  Hebrew  tongue.  He  en- 
joyed nothing  that  he  did  not  earn  with  his  own 
hands,  and  therefore  made  articles  that  were  sold  to 
his  nobles.  He  is  represented  as  an  excellent  and 
kind-hearted  ruler,  though  invisible  to  his  subjects, 
even  refusing  to  be  seen  by  the  pilgrims  who  passed 
through  Bagdad  on  their  way  to  Mecca.  He  was 
wont  to  respond  to  petitions  from  the  faithful  who 
wished  to  see  his  face,  by  putting  one  corner  of  his 
garment  out  of  a  window  and  permitting  them  to 
kiss  it,  which  the  pilgrims  did  with  eagerness.  The 
palace  is  represented  to  comprise  large  buildings 
with  pillars  of  gold  and  silver,  and  hoards  of  pre- 
cious stones. 

Once  a  year,  during  the  month  Ramadan,  the 
kalif  was  accustomed  to  leave  his  palace,  and  allow 
his  visitors,  as  well  as  his  subjects,  to  behold  his 
countenance.  Then,  bestriding  the  royal  mule,  and 
dressed  in  his  ofificial  robes  of  gold  and  silver  cloth, 
his  head  ornamented  with   a   turban   adorned  with 


43 8  THE  FATAL   BLOW. 

stones  of  inestimable  value,  and  covered  with  a  veil, 
betokening  humility,  he  went  in  procession  from  the 
palace  to  the  mosque,  accompanied  by  a  retinue  of 
nobles  from  Arabia,  Media,  even  from  Tibet,  likewise 
adorned  with  gorgeous  dresses.  All  who  followed 
were  dressed  in  silk  and  purple  ;  the  streets  were  made 
lively  by  singing  and  rejoicing;  and  the  people  cried 
aloud,  "  Blessed  art  thou,  our  lord  and  sovereign!" 
This  compliment  was  duly  acknowledged,  and  the 
kalif  entered  the  mosque,  where  he  mounted  a 
wooden  pulpit,  and  expounded  the  law,  after  which 
he  pronounced  a  blessing  and  sacrificed  a  camel, 
distributing  it  to  the  nobles,  all  of  whom  were  eager 
to  taste  the  meat  prepared  thus  by  the  hands  of  their 
king.  The  kalif  returned  to  his  palace  by  a  different 
way,  and  the  path  by  which  he  went  was  carefully 
guarded,  so  that  no  one  should  tread  in  his  footsteps. 
He  seems  to  have  been  particularly  careful  for  the 
health  of  his  people,  and  had  provided  sixty  medical 
warehouses,  where  patients  were  assisted  and  fed 
until  cured  of  their  diseases.  Besides  this,  he  had  a 
large  asylum  for  maniacs,  where  they  were  chained 
and  cared  for,  examinations  at  regular  periods  being 
made  to  determine  who,  if  any,  had  been  restored  to 
their  reason,  all  of  which  was  done  out  of  pure  piety 
and  love  of  humanity.  Bagdad  itself  is  represented 
as  surrounded  by  gardens  and  orchards,  being  rich  in 
palm-trees,  and  not  equalled  by  any  city  in  Mesopo- 
tamia. Not  only  did  merchants  resort  thither  from  all 
countries  for  purposes  of  trade,  but  wise  philosophers 
were  encouraged,  and  there  were  many  scientific  men, 
as  well  as  magicians  skilled  in  enchantments.* 

*  Wright :   "  Early  Travels  in  Palestine  "  (Bohn),  page  95. 


440  THE  FATAL   BLOW. 

At  the  very  time  that  Benjamin  of  Tudela  was 
thus  describing  the  great  city  of  Bagdad,  if  the 
chronology  be  correct,  there  was  born  in  distant 
Tartary  (properly  Tatary,  for  the  name  has  no  rela- 
tion to  the  Latin  Tartarus)  a  man  who  was  destined 
to  overthrow  kalif  and  palace,  Bagdad  and  the  whole 
Saracenic  rule.  Jengis  Khan  (his  name  is  spelled  in 
a  score  of  different  ways)  was  a  native  of  the  most 
remote  of  those  unknown  regions  which  had  re- 
peatedly poured  their  fierce  hordes  down  upon  the 
dominions  of  the  kalifs,  and  opened  his  eyes  to 
the  light  of  day  at  about  the  year  1 164,  in  the  rough 
region  north  of  the  great  wall  of  China,  where  his 
father  was  a  ruler.^  Jengis  was  left  an  orphan  at  an 
early  age,  but  he  assumed  the  reins  of  government, 
and  by  the  year  1203  had  become  the  most  powerful 
of  the  khans  in  the  region.  Then  at  a  general  gath- 
ering of  deputies  from  the  different  Tartar  tribes 
that  he  had  subjugated,  he  was  confirmed  as  **  Jen- 
gis "  Khan,  or  greatest  of  khans,  one  of  the  attend- 
ant priests  declaring  that  he  was  destined  to  become 
ruler  of  the  whole  earth.  A  few  years  after  this  he 
ventured  to  invade  China,  scaling  that  great  wall 
which  for  fourteen  hundred  years  had  proved  a 
sufficient  barrier  against  the  northern  enemies,  and 
then  Pekin  fell  into  his  hands. 

Gradually  Jengis  gained  upon  the  strong  Seljuks, 
took  Bokhara  and  Samarkand,  and  extended  his  do- 

*  The  astrologers  of  Islam  had  predicted  that  a  fearful  wind- 
storm should  come  from  the  East  in  1154,  and  as  no  such  storm 
came  it  was  said  that  Jengis  Kahn  was  meant. — Vambery's  "His- 
tory of  Bokhara,"  page  119. 


THE  END  OF  THE  KALI  FATE,  44 1 

minion  from  the  Sihon  to  the  Persian  Gulf  (about 
1220).  In  1227,  when  preparing  for  other  invasions, 
Jengis  died,  and  his  bloody  sceptre  was  passed  over  to 
his  son.  He  had,  it  is  said,  by  his  wars  and  massacres 
caused  the  death  of  five  or  six  millions  of  his  fellow- 
beings,  but  there  has  been  traced  a  civilizing  ten- 
dency in  his  laws  and  in  the  administration  of  his 
vast  realm.  The  sons  and  grandsons  of  Jengis  con- 
tinued his  successful  career,  and  extended  their 
dominions  from  the  sea-board  of  China  through 
Russia  to  the  borders  of  Germany  and  Poland.  His 
grandson  Hulaku,  who  was  the  first  sultan  of 
Persia,  overthrew  the  terrible  Assassins,  and  cap- 
tured Bagdad,  putting  the  kalif  Motasim  to  death, 
and  with  him  sacrificing,  according  to  the  exagger- 
ated accounts  long  believed,  sixteen  hundred  thou- 
sand citizens  of  the  great  capital !  The  kalifate  thus 
ended  as  a  temporal  kingdom,  though  one  of  the 
uncles  of  Motasim  found  an  asylum  in  Egypt  in 
1 261,  and  established  a  spiritual  power  that  endured 
until  1577. 

Thus,  amid  the  groans  of  dying  thousands,  and  the 
wild  exultations  of  a  horde  of  victorious  Tartars  and 
Monguls,  the  kalifate  that  had  created  Bagdad,  and 
for  five  hundred  years  had  made  it  a  magnificent 
centre  of  art,  science,  and  letters,  was  forever  ex- 
tinguished ;  but  Islam  did  not  die. 

One  hundred  and  eighty  millions  of  human  beings 
still  profess  to  follow  the  teachings  of  the  prophet ; 
five  times  a  day  they  spread  their  mats  and  turn 
their  faces  towards  the  spot  made  sacred  to  them  by 


442 


THE  FATAL   BLOW. 


his  birth,  and  utter  the  prayers  he  taught  ;  daily  the 
voice  of  the  muezzin  is  heard  from  thousands  of 
minarets  boldly  calling  the  faithful  from  contempla- 
tion of  this  world  to  thoughts  of  the  next ;  and 
yearly,  as  the  month  Moharrem  goes  by,  devoted 
millions  express  their  sorrow  for  the  pains  of  the 
"martyr  "  of  Kerbala,  and  work  themselves  to  such 
a  pitch  of  enthusiasm  that  the  power  of  their  rulers 
trembles  before  them. 


NOLDEKE'S  ORDER  OF  THE  SURAS  OF 
THE  KORAN. 


Revealed  at  Mecca.  (  Years  one 
to  five  of  Mohammed  'j-  7?iis- 
sion.) 

96.  The  Thickened  Blood.   The 

Prophet's  First  Call  to  Cry, 
74.   The  Covered. 
III.  Abu  Laheb. 
106.  The  Koreishites. 

103.  Al  Kawthar. 

104.  The  Slanderer. 

T07.   The  Succoring  Hand, 

102.  The  Love  of  Gain. 

105.  The  Elephant. 

92.  The  Night. 
go.  The  Land. 

94.  The  Expanding. 

93.  The  Forenoon. 

97.  Al  Kadar.     (The  Night  of 

Power.) 

86.  The  Nocturnal  Star. 
91.   The  Sun. 

80.  He  Frowned. 
68.  The  Pen, 

87.  The  Most  High. 

95.  The  Fig-Tree. 

103.  The  Afternoon. 

85.   The  Celestial  Signs. 
73.   The  Wrapped  Up. 
101.   The  Smiting. 
99.   The  Earthquake. 
82,  The  Cleaving  Asunder. 

81.  The  Folding  Up, 
53.  The  Star. 

84.   The  Rending  in  Sunder. 
100.  The  Coursers. 
79.   Those  Who  Tear  Foith. 


Those  Who  are  Sent. 
The  Important  News. 
The  Overwhelming. 
The  Daybreak. 
The  Resurrection, 
The  Unjust  Measure. 
The  Inevitable  Day. 
The  Dispersing, 
The  Mountain. 
The  Judgment. 
The  Ascent, 
The  Merciful. 
112.  The      Declaration     of     the 
Unity  of  Allah. 
The  Misbelievers. 
The  Daybreak. 
Men. 
Prayer  for  Guidance. 


77- 
78. 
88, 
89. 
75- 
83. 
69. 

51. 

52. 
56. 
70, 

55- 


109 

113 

114 

r 


Revealed  at  Mecca.      (  Years  five 
and  six ^^ 

54.   The  Moon. 

37,  The  Classes. 

71,  Noah. 
76.  Man, 
44,  Smoke. 
50.  K. 

20.  T.  H. 

26.  The  Poets. 

15.  Al  Hejr. 

19.  Mary. 

38.  S. 
36.  I,  s, 

43.  The  Ornaments  of  Gold. 

72.  The  Jinns. 

67,   The  Kingdom. 


444 


ORDER   OF  THE   SURAS. 


23.  The  True  Believers, 

21.  The  Prophets. 

25.  Discrimination.   AlForkan. 
(The  Koran.) 

17.  The  Night  Journey. 

27.  The  Ant. 

18.  The  Cave. 

Revealed  at   Mecca    between    the 
seventh   Year  and  the  Hejra. 

32.  Adoration. 

41.  The  Explanation. 

45.  The  Kneeling. 
16.  The  Bee. 

30.  The  Greeks. 

11.  Hud. 

E4o  Abraham. 

12.  Joseph. 

40.  The  True  Believer. 

28.  The  Story. 
39.  The  Troops. 

29.  The  Spider. 

31.  Lokman. 

42.  The  Council. 
10.  Jonah. 

34.  Saba. 

35.  The  Angels,  or  the  Creator. 
7.  AlAraf. 

46.  AlAhkaf. 


6.  Cattle. 
13.   Thunder. 

Revealed  at  Medina. 

2.  The  Heifer. 

98.   The  Manifest  Sign. 

64.  Mutual  Deceit. 

62.  The  Assembly.     (Friday.) 

8.  The  Spoils. 

47.  Mohammed.     (The  Battle.) 

3.  The  Family  of  Imram. 
61.   Battle  Array. 

57.  Iron. 

4.  Women. 

65.  Divorce. 

59.  The  Emigration. 
33.  The  Confederates. 

63.  The  Hypocrites. 
24.  Light. 

58.  She  Who  Disputed. 
22.  The  Pilgrimage. 

48.  The  Victory. 

66.  Prohibition. 

60.  She  Who  is  Tried, 
no.  Assistance. 

49.  The  Sanctuary. 

9.  The     Declaration     of     Im- 

munity. 

5.  The  Table. 


i 


A  CHRONOLOGICAL   TABLE. 

A.  D.    565-1261. 


A.H. 

A.D. 
580 

595 
603 

The  Times  of  Ignorance.    Abra- 
ha  invades  Hejaz. 

Mohammed  born  (April  20th). 
Chosroes  Parvis  wars  with  Jus- 
tinus  11. 

Turks  attempt  to  seize  Persia. 

Chosroes  seeks  asylum  at  Con- 
stantinople. 
Sacrilegious  war  (580-590). 
Mohammed  marries  Kadija. 

Chosroes    invades    the    Roman 
Empire. 

A.D. 

576 
578 

582 
602 

Justinus  IT.  ascends  the  throne  of 
the  Eastern  Empire. 

War  with  the  Persians.   Chos- 
roes defeated  at  Melitene. 
Tiberius  II. 

Mauricius. 

Phocas     (a    centurion)     murders 
Mauricius   and    makes    hiniself 
emperor. 

610 

Mohammed  begins  his  prophetic 
career. 

610 

Heraclius  comes  from  Africa  and 
seizes  the  sceptre. 

613 

Mohammed  opposed  by  the  Ko- 
reishites. 

615 

The  emigration  to  Abyssinia. 

615 

Jerusalem  pillaged  by  Chos- 
roes II. 

617 

Mohammed  under  the  ban-to  620 

619 

Kadija  dies. 
Abu  Talib  dies. 

620 

Mohammed  visits  Taif. 

I 

622 

Mohammed  leaves  Mecca. 

622 

Chosroes  II.  defeated  among 
the  Taurus  Mountains. 

2 

62:! 

Abu  Sofian  defeated  at  Bedr. 

3 

624 

Battleof  Ohud  ;  Mohammed  de- 
feated. 
Marriage  of  Ali  and  Fatima. 

6 

627 

Battle  of  the  Ditch. 

627 
629 

Persia  overcome  by  Heraclius. 

Battle  near  Nineveh. 
Heraclius  at  Jerusalem. 
Saracens  begin  warfare  with 

the  empire. 

9 

630 

Mecca  overcome. 

Battle    of     Muta    goes    against 

Islam. 
False  prophets  arise. 
Taif  beseiged  and  taken. 

446 


CHRONOLOGICAL    TABLE. 


A.D. 
632 


632 


633 


634 
635 

636 

638 
639 
641 

642 

644 

647 
655 


656 
657 

658 

658 
661 

661 


670 
676 
680 

683 

684 

685 
692 


Mohammed's  farewell  pilgrim- 
age. 
Mohammed's  death  (June  8th) 
Abu  Bekr  chosen  kalif. 

Osama's  expedition  to  Pales- 
tine. 
Muselima  defeated  at  the  bat 
tie  of  the  Garden  of  Death 
Kalid  in  Irak.     Battle  of  the 

River  of  Blood. 
Battle  of  Wacusa  on  the 
Yermuk. 
Omar  I.  chosen  kalif. 
Battle  of  Boweib. 
Battle  of  Kadesia. 
Damascus  taken. 
Jerusalem  captured.      Kin- 

nesrin  taken. 
Kufaand  Bassora  founded 
The  Year  of  Ashes. 
Egypt  conquered.      Fostat 

founded. 
Battle  of  Nevahend.    Persia 
conquered. 
Othman,    Factions  at  Kufa  and 
Bassora. 
Conquests  in  Africa. 
Conference  of  governors  at 

Medina. 
Medina  attacked. 
Ali  chosen  kalif. 

Battle  of  the  camel. 
Karejites  rebel  after  the  bat- 
tle of  Sif!in. 
Karejites  defeated  by  Nehr- 

wan. 
Egypt  revolts  and  is  lost. 
Hasan  becomes  kalif,  after  All's 

assassination. 
Moawia  I.    Omiades  at  Damas- 


egi 

(Peace  678). 
Yezid  declared  heir-appar- 
ent. 
Yezid  kalif.      Tragedy  at  Ker- 

bala. 
Moawia  II. 
Merwan  I. 

Abdalla,     son     of     Zobeir, 

claims  the  kalifate. 
The  kaaba  rebuilt. 
Rebellion  of  Moktar  in  Irak. 
Abd  el  Melik  kalif. 


ij  besieges  Mecca, 
d'alla  killed. 
Conquests  in  Africa. 


Ab- 


Walid    I. 
quered. 


Transoxania     con- 


641 


668 
670 


685 


695 
698 
705 


H  eracleonas— exiled. 
Conslans  II. 


Constantine  III. 

Saracens  besiege  Constantinople, 
yearly  until  678. 


Justinian  II.  (dethroned  later). 


Leontius. 

Tiberius  III.    Aspimar. 

Justinian  II.  (restored). 


CHRONOLOGICAL    TABLE. 


447 


A.H, 

A.D. 

A.D. 

91 

711 

Spain  invaded  at   Gibraltar 
by  Tarik. 

711 
713 

Philippicus  Bardanes. 
Anastasius  II. 

96 

715 

Soliman. 

97 

7r6 

Second  seige  of  Constanti- 
nople. 

716 

Theodosius  III.  Siege  of  Constan- 
tinople by  the  Saracens. 

99 

717 

Omar  II. 

718 

Leo  III.,  the  Isaurian.  (Iconoclas- 
tic controversy  begins.)    Image- 
worship   forbidden.       Saracens 

101 

720 

Yezid  II. 

repulsed. 

105 

724 

Hisham. 

726 

War  with  the  Saracens  in  Pon- 
tus  and  Cappadocia. 

114 

732 

Battle    of   Tours.      Charles 
Martel  repels  the  Saracens. 

739 
740 
741 

Saracens  invade    the    empire 

with  three  armies. 
Great  earthquake    devastates 

parts  of  the  empire. 
Constantino  IV.  (Copronymus.) 

125 

743 

Walid  II. 

126 

744 

Yezid  III. 

126 

744 

Ibrahim. 

127 

744 

Merwan  II.     Last  of  Omiades. 

132 

750 

Battle  of  the  Zab. 

132 

750 

Abtil    Abbas.       Abbassides     at 
Bagdad. 

752 

Pepin  in  France. 

136 

754 

Mansur. 

X38 

755 

Abd  er  Rahman  in  Spain. 

755 

Temporal    power   of    the    popes 

began. 
Leo  IV.    The  Iconoclast. 

158 

775 

Mehdi. 

775 

780 

Constantine  V.  and  Irene. 
(Irene  unpopular.) 

169 

78s 

Hedi. 

170 

786 

Harun  al  Rashid. 

790 

Constantine  V.  alone. 

181 

797 

The  Aglabites  in  Kairwan, 

800-909. 

797 

Irene  alone,  (deposed  and  slain). 

800 

Charlemagne  emperor.  Egbert 

in  England. 

802 

Nicephorus  I. 
(Slain.) 

193 

809 

Amin. 

811 
811 

Staurachius  reigns  a  few  days. 
Michael  I. 

198 

813 

Mamun. 

813 

Leo  V.  (killed  in  temple). 

204 

820 

The  Taherians,  818-902. 

820 
829 

Michael  II.,  the  Stammerer. 
Theophilus,  son  of  Michael. 

218 

833 

Motasim. 

226 

841 

Rise  of  the  Turkish  body- 
guard. 
Wathek. 

227 

842 

842 

Michael  III.,  Porphyrogenitus. 

23- 

847 

Motawakkel. 

247 

861 

Montaser. 

Increase   of    the    power    of 
Turkish  body-guards  (861- 

Mostain. 

248 

862 

252 

866 

Motaz. 

867 

Basilius  I.,  the  Macedonian. 

448 


CHRONOLOGICAL    TABLE. 


L.H. 

^55 

A.D. 

869 

Motadi. 

A.D. 

256 

870 

Motamed. 

872 

Alfred  the  Great  in  Britain. 

265 
279 

879 

892 

The  twelfth  Imam  (Alyite) 

disappears. 
The  Soffarides,  872-901. 

Motaded. 

The  Samanides,  901-090. 

886 

Leo  VI.,  the  Philosopher. 

289 

902 

Moktafi. 

295 

^8 

Moktader. 

The  Fatimites  (or  Ismailiaas) 
in  Africa,  909-1171. 

911 
912 

Alexander  and  Constantine  VI. 
Constantine  VI.,  Porphyrogenitus. 

Zoe  regent. 
Romanus  I. 

919 

920 

Christopher. 

928 

Stephen  and  Constantine  VII. 
(Five  emperors  at  once.) 

931 

Christopher  dies. 

[Romanus  exiled  by  his  sons. 
Constantine  and  Stephen  who 

are  banished.] 

320 

932 

Kaher. 

The  Buvides  (or  Dilemites), 
933-1056. 

322 

934 

Radi. 

325 

937 

The  Emirs  al  Omra  (Princes 
of  Princes)  founded. 

329 

940 

Motaki. 

333 

944 

Mostakfi. 

334 

945 

Moti. 

945 
959 

963 

Constantine  VII.  alone. 
Romanus  11.  (Monster). 

(Theophania,  his  wife.) 
Nicephorus  II.  marries  Theopha- 
nia, who  had  him  assassinated. 

356 

967 

The  Fatimites  in  Egypt. 
Fatimites  conquer  Palestine. 

358 

969 

973 

John  I. 

363 

974 

Tai. 

The  Seljuks,  974-1288. 

976 
987 

Basil  II.  and  Constantine  VIII. 
Hugh  Capet  in  France. 

379 

989 

Truce  of  God  originated  at 
Charroux. 

38X 

991 

Kader. 

Christians  persecuted  at  Je- 
rusalem, 996-1021. 
The  Gaznevides,  904-1160. 

lOOl 

Mahmud    of    Gazni    invades 
India. 

406 

1016 

Truce  of  God  adopted    by 
Council  of  Orleans. 

1017 

1025 
1028 

Cnut  in  Britain. 
Constantine  VIII.  alone. 
Romanus  III.  (Poisoned  by  Zoe, 
his  wife.) 

422 

103 1 

Kaim.     End  of  the  Omiades  in 
Spain. 
Truce     of     God    generally 

adopted,  1033. 

' 

CHRONOLOGICAL    TABLE. 


449 


H. 

A.D, 

A.D. 

1034 
1 041 
1042 
1054 

Michael  IV. 
Michael  V. 
Constantine  IX. 
Theodora. 

t6 

1055 

Togrul  Beg  at  Bagdad. 

1056 
1057 
1059 

Michael  VI. 

Isaac  I.     (Comnenus.) 

Con.stantine  X. 

)5 

1063 

Alf  Arslan,  sultan  of  the  Sel- 
juks. 

1066 

William  the  Norman  in  England. 

1067 

Eudosia. 

107I 

Michael  VIT. 

1073 

Gregory  VII.  (Hildebrand)  pope. 

'7 

107s 

Moktadi.  Seljuks  at  Rome. 

1078 
108 1 

Nicephorus  III. 
Alexius  I. 

o 

1087 

The  Almoravides  in  Spain. 

1090 

Passion  for  pilgrimages  at  lis 
height  in  Europe. 

7 

1094 

Mostader. 

8 

1095 

First  crusade  proclaimed  at 
Council  of  Clermont. 

2 

1099 

Jerusalem  taken. 

2 

9 

9 

9 
o 

1 

7 

4 

5 

3 

II18 
I  134 
113s 

IMS 
1146 
1 160 
1 1 70 
1x71 

1178 
1179 

1187 

Mostarshed. 
Rashid. 
Moktafi  II. 

Second  crusade  proclaimed. 

The  Almoades  in  Spain. 
Mostanjed. 
Mostadi 

Saladin  overthrows  the   Fa- 
timites. 

Hasan,  head  of  the  Assassins. 
Nasir. 

Saladin  conquers  Palestine. 

Rise  of  the  Monguls,     1^00 

(called  Moguls  in  India). 

II18 

"43 

1180 
1183 
1 185 

1189 
1195 

John  Comnenus. 
Manuel  I.  (Comnenus). 

Alexius  II. 
Andronicus  I. 
Isaac  II.  (Angelus). 

Richard  I.  in  England. 
Alexius  III. 

9 

1203 

Constantinople  stormed  and 
pillaged. 

1203 
1204 

Isaac  11.,  Latin  Emperor. 
Baldwin  I. 

)2 

1206 

Jengis  Khan  (1206-1227). 

1206 
1216 
1219 

Henry  I. 

Peter  de  Courtenay. 
Robert   de    Courtenay    (crowned 
1221). 

9 

1222 

Monguls  invade  Persia. 

2 

3 

50 

58 
P 

1225 
1220 

1233 

1240 
1243 

Zahir. 
Mostanser. 

Origin  of  the    kingdom    of 

Granada. 
Rise  of  the  Ottoman  Turks. 
Mostasem. 

1228 

Baldwin  II. 

,6 

1258 

Bagdad  falls. 

1261 

Constantinople  recovered  from 
the    Latins    by    the    Greek 
emperors. 

LIST  OF  BOOKS 

Used  in  prepari7ig  the  Story  of  the  Saracens  ;  together 
with  the  titles  of  others  of  value  to  the  student  of 
the  subject. 

The  general  outline,  by  Professor  Freeman,  the 
more  special  essay  of  Deutsch  (on  Islam),  the  valu- 
able papers  by  Wellhausen,  Guyard,  and  Noldeke, 
in  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  the  chapters  of 
Gibbon,  or  the  article  by  Guyard  in  the  "  Encyclo- 
pedic des  Sciences  Religieuses,"  will  give  the  reader 
a  good  point  of  departure,  from  which  he  can  pro- 
ceed through  the  smaller  volume  of  Muir  and  the 
sketch  of  Bosworth-Smith  to  the  more  exhaustive 
works  of  Caussin  de  Perceval,  Sprenger,  Weil,  Muir, 
Miiller,  and  others.* 

Opinion  on  Mohammed  and  Islam  has  passed 
through  marked  changes  since  the  present  century 
opened,  and  any  investigator  will  find  it  advisable 
to  read  books  presenting  directly  opposite  views  ; 
and  probably  each  student  will  formulate  opinions 
differing  from  all  who  have  gone  before  him,  since 
the  last  word  has  not  yet  been  said  on  the  subject. 

*  Of  encyclopoedias,  the  reader  will  find  that  of  Chambers  among 
the  most  thorough  in  its  treatment  of  Islam  and  the  Saracens.  Poole's 
"  Index  to  Periodical  Literature  "  gives  many  valuable  references 
under  the  titles  Arabia,  Arabian  Language  and  Literature,  Arabs, 
Mohammed,  Mohammedanism,  Moors,  Persia,  Saracens,  Spain,  etc. 


452  LIST  OF  BOOKS, 

The  history  of  the  religion  of  Islam,  which,  from 
the  nature  of  the  case,  has  been  but  incidentally  dis- 
cussed in  this  volume,  may  be  followed  in  all  its  in- 
teresting details  in  the  books  mentioned  below.  The 
variety  of  the  list  is  considerable,  both  as  to  literary 
and  historical  merit.  This  is  intentional.  Some  of 
the  most  valuable  works  are  to  be  found  in  the  large 
libraries  only,  while  others  of  less  merit  may  be  had 
more  conveniently.  A  book  in  hand  though  known 
to  be  not  the  best,  is  more  useful  than  a  better  one 
that  cannot  be  obtained. 

The  author  desires  to  express  his  great  obligations 
to  the  custodians  of  the  Library  of  Harvard  Uni- 
versity, of  the  Boston  Public  Library,  of  the  Library 
of  Yale  College,  and  of  the  Astor  Library,  New  York, 
for  many  favors  received  in  the  investigation  of  au- 
thorities. The  volumes  which  he  has  not  been  able 
to  consult  are  indicated  by  being  included  between 
brackets. 

The  orthography  adopted  by  the  authors  of  the 
following  works  is  wonderfully  various,  owing  to 
the  fact  that  it  is  impossible  to  express  the  sounds  of 
the  Oriental  words  in  Occidental  letters  which  have 
no  uniform  values.  Important  information  on  this 
subject  is  given  in  an  essay  in  the  introduction  to 
Lippincott's  ''  Pronouncing  Biographical  Diction- 
ary," page  17. 

For  versions  of  the  Koran,  see  Lane,  Lane- Poole,  Kazimirski,  Muir,  Palmer, 
Rod  well,  and  Sale. 


Abulfeda.  Annales  Muslemici,  in  Arabic  and  Latin.  Translated  by  Johann 
Jakob  Reiske,  and  edited  by  Jakob  Georg  Christian  Adler.  Copeo- 
Jiagen,  1789-1794.     Five  volumes,  (|uartp, 


LIST  OF  BOOKS.  453 

Abulfeda.  Geography.  [Translated  by  Joseph  Toussaint  Reinaud.  Two 
volumes,  quarto.    Paris,  1848. 

[ La  vie  de  Mahomet,  with  the  Arabian  text.      Translated  by  Des- 

vergers  into  French.     Octavo.     1837.] 

Addison,  Lancelot.  The  first  state  of  Mahumedism  ;  or,  An  account  of  the 
author  and  doctrine  of  that  imposture.  London,  1679.  The  father 
of  the  essayist,  Joseph  Addison,  resided  for  some  years  at  Tangier,  and 
formed  his  opinion  regarding  the  prophet  there.  He  speaks  of  Moham- 
med as  one  "'  with  whose  cursed  doctrine  the  greatest  part  of  mankind 
is  at  this  very  day  so  egregiously  befooled."  The  curious  volume  is  a 
good  expression  of  the  views  of  Mohammed  current  two  hundred  years 
ago,  in  the  reign  of  Charles  IL 

Ahmed  Khan  Bahador,  Syed.  Essays  on  the  life  of  Mohammed.  London, 
prophet,  1870.  This  author  claims  to  be  a  direct  descendant  of  the 
and  his  essays  are  interesting  as  giving  the  view  of  a  Moslem.  The 
author  wrote  a  "  Mohammedan  commentary  on  the  Holy  Bible." 

Alcantara,  Miguel  Lafuente.  Condicion  y  revoluciones  de  algunas  razas 
espaiiolas  y  especialmente  de  la  Mozarabe,  en  la  edad  media.  (In  the 
author's  "  Historia  de  Granada."    Two  volumes.      Paris,  1852.      Vol.  i.) 

[Amari,  Michele.  La  storia  dei  Musulmani  d'Affrica.  Author  of  Guerra  del 
vespro  Siciliano.     1842.] 

Ameer  Ali,  Seyed,  Moulvi^  M.A.,  LL.B.  A  critical  examination  of  the  life 
and  teachings  of  Mohammed.  London,  1873.  This  writer,  being  a 
rationalistic  (Motazilite)  Moslem,  his  book  has  the  advantage  of  present- 
ing the  side  of  the  subject  which  is  not  familiar  to  Western  readers.  The 
book  is  readable  in  style,  and  clear  in  presentation  of  the  author's  views. 

The  personal  law  of  the  Mahommedans.    (According  to  all  schools.) 

Together  with  a  comparative  sketch  of  the  law  of  inheritance  among  the 
Sunnis  and  the  Shiahs.  London,  1880.  The  author  embodies  in  this 
work  the  substance  of  a  series  of  discourses  delivered  by  him  as  Lecturer 
on.  Mohammedan  Law  at  the  Presidency  College  of  Calcutta.  His  Intro- 
duction of  some  forty  pages  gives  a  survey  of  the  sects  of  Islam,  and 
their  origin. 

Arnold,  Edwin.  Pearls  of  the  faith  ;  or,  Islam's  rosary.  Being  the  ninety- 
nine  beautiful  names  of  Allah,  which  comments  in  verse  from  various 
Oriental  sources.     Boston,  1883. 

Arnold,  John  Muhleisen.  Ishmael:  a  natural  history  of  Islamism.  London, 
1859.  Arnold  was  a  missionary  in  Asia  and  Africa.  He  says  of  Moham- 
med: "No  ordinary  mortal  ever  exercised  such  an  immeasurable  influ- 
ence upon  the  human  race,  in  a  religious,  moral,  and  political  point  of 
view,  and  this  during  a  period  of  twelve  centuries." 

Arnold,  Matthew.  Essay  on  a  Persian  miracle-play.  London,  1871.  Gives  an- 
account  of  the  festival  of  Moharrem  as  described  by  a  witness  of  it.  An- 
other description  is  given  in  Lane-Poole's  Studies  in  a  Mosque,  and  still 
another  (sketchy)  in  Harper's  Magazine  for  February,  1S86.  Sir  Lewis 
Pelley  has  written  "  The  miracle-play  of  Hasan  and  Husain."  London 
1879. 

Ayala,  Ignacio  Lopez  de.     Historia  de  Gibraltar.     Madrid,  1782. 

Barbier  de  Meynard,  Casimir  Adrien.     Les  prairies  d'or,  de  Masudi.     Text  and 


454 


LIST  OF  BOOKS. 


translation.  Nine  volumes,  octavo.  Paris,  1861-1877.  Masudiwas  anativeof 
Bagdad,  who  died,  probably  at  Cairo,  956  a.d.  This  work  is  general  history 
with  details  regarding  the  "  Story  of  the  Saracens."  The  translator  was  an 
Orientalist  of  superior  scholarship.  In  the  Journal  Asiatique  (Paris,  Mars- 
Avril,  1869)  he  gives  a  study  of  the  life  of  Ibrahim,  the  accomplished  brother 
of  Harun  al  Rashid.     Pp.  201-342. 

Barth^lemy  Saint-Hilaire,  Jules.  Mahoiget  et  le  Coran,  pr6c6d^  d'une  introduc- 
tion sur  les  devoirs  mutuels  de  la  religion  et  la  philosophie.  One  volume, 
octavo.  Paris,  1865.  A  valuable  preface  of  more  than  one  hundred  pages  is 
a  discussion  of  Islam,  and  the  entire  work  is  worthy  of  careful  study.  It  is 
full  of  references  to  the  best  sources  of  information. 

Bassett,  James.  Persia,  the  land  of  the  Imams.  A  narrative  of  travel  and  resi- 
dence, 1871-1885.  One  volume,  octavo.  New  York,  1886.  The  author  is  a 
Christian  missionary. 

Bate,  John  Drew.  The  missionary's  vade-mecum  First  series.  An  examination 
of  the  claims  of  Ishmael  as  viewed  by  Muhammadans.  (Being  the  first 
chapter  of  section  one  of  Studies  in  Islam.)  One  volume,  octavo.  Benaras, 
1884.  The  author,  missionary  of  the  Baptists  of  London,  promises  othes 
books  on  kindred  subjects. 

Baudier,  Le  Sieur  Michel.  Histoire  g6n6rale  de  la  religion  des  Turcs.  Rouen, 
.  The  style  of  this  author  is  heavy,  rambling,  and  uncritical,  but  his 
book  is  not  without  interest  and  may  be  used  with  profit. 

Bayle,  Pierre.  Dictionnaire  historique  et  critique.  Revised.  Rotterdam,  1720, 
In  vol.  iii.  there  is  a  sketch  of  Mohammed,  with  copious  notes  giving  the 
authorities  on  which  it  is  based.  (The  notes  are  many  times  more  extensive 
than  the  text.) 

Bebel,  August.  Die  Mohammedanische-Arabische  Kulturperiode.  Stuttgart, 
1844.     One  volume,  duodecimo. 

Benjamin  of  Tudela.     (See  Wright.) 

[Black,  C.  I.  The  principles  of  Ishmael.  Being  a  short  historical  survey  of  the 
Turanian  tribes  In  their  western  migrations.     London,  1880.] 

Bleda,  Jayme.  Coronica  de  los  Moros  de  Espana.  One  volume,  quarto.  Valencia, 
1618. 

Blunt,  Lady  Anne  Isabella  King-Noel.  A  pilgrimage  to  Nejd,  the  cradle  of  the 
Arab  race.  Two  volumes.  London,  1881.  These  volumes  contain  much 
information  about  the  interior  of  Arabia.  There  are  cuts  of  the  city  of  Me- 
shed Ali,  and  other  places. 

Bosworth  Smith,  R.  Mohammed  and  Mohammedanism.  London  and  New  York, 
1873.  Lectures,  to  which  are  appended  an  important  article  of  Islam  by 
Emanuel  Deutsch.  The  polemical  lecturer,  in  his  effort  to  be  just,  ven- 
tures too  near  the  line  of  eulogy.     Interesting  and  stimulating. 

Boulainvilliers,  Henri,  Count  de.  La  vie  de  Mahomed.  Londres,  1730.  This  i? 
much  more  fair  to  the  prophet  than  was  customary  at  the  day,  and  the 
count  (who  unfortunately  died,  1722,  before  his  work  was  published  or  even 
finished)  exhibits  a  refreshing  amount  of  common-sense.  It  was  his  opinion 
that  the  world  could  afford  to  be  just  to  a  man  who,  despite  his  faults,  had 
published  much  truth,  after  he  had  been  dead  more  than  a  thousand  years. 
A  translation  into  English  was  published  1752. 

[Br6guigny,  Louis  George  Oudard  Freudrix  de  (1716-1795).     La  vie  de  Mahomet.] 


LIST  OF  BOOKS.  455 

Briinnow,  Rudolf  Ernest.  Die  Charidschiten  iinter  den  ersten  O^iiayyaden.  Ein 
Beitrag  zur  Geschichte  des  ersten  islamischen  Jahrhunder'e.  One  volume, 
octavo.     Leiden,  1884. 

Burckhardt,  John  Lewis.  Notes  on  the  Bedouins  and  Wahaby?  London,  1831. 
The  Wahabis  were  fanatical  reformers  who  arose  early  in  "be  eighteenth 
century  and  almost  succeeded  in  revolutionizing  Islam. 

Burton,  Richard  F.  Personal  narrative  of  a  pilgrimage  to  El  Medinah  ^nd  Mecca. 
Three  volumes,  duodecimo.     London,  1855.     Republished  in  New  York. 

Bush,  George.  The  life  of  Mohammed.  New  York,  1830.  Mohammed  is  here 
represented  to  have  appeared  in  fulfilment  of  the  prophecy  in  Daniel  vii., 
8-26, "  confirmed  and  illustrated  "  by  Revelation  ix. ,  1-9  ;  commentators  "  at 
the  present  day  "  being  "  almost  universally  agreed  in  regarding  the  fifth 
trumpet  as  symbolizing  and  predicting  the  appearance  of  the  Arabian  impos- 
tor, his  spurious  religion,  and  his  Saracen  followers." 

Cardonne,  Denis  Dominique.  Histoire  de  I'Afrlque  et  de  I'Espagne,  sous  la  domi- 
nation des  Arabes.  Three  volumes,  duodecimo.  Paris,  1765.  Not  of  great 
value.  The  author  was  an  Oriental  scholar,  but  inferior  to  Conde.  Fournel 
says  that  the  book  is  below  criticism. 

Carlyle,  Thomas.  The  hero  as  a  prophet,  in  the  volume  entitled  "  On  heroes  and 
hero-worship."  London,  1840.  A  stimulating  and  very  interesting  delinea- 
tion of  the  salient  traits  of  Islam  and  the  life  of  its  prophet ;  but  some  of  the 
lines  are  emphasized  with  too  much  vigor. 

Caussin  de  Perceval,  Armand-Pierre.  Essai  sur  I'histoire  des  Arabes,  avant 
I'Islamisme.  Paris,  1847, 1848.  This  author  (like  his  father)  was  a  thorough 
Oriental  scholar,  and  an  original  investigator  of  the  first  rank.  He  had 
travelled  and  lived  among  the  Mohammedans,  and  was  familiar  with  their 
customs  and  history.  He  was  a  member  of  the  French  Academy.  His 
work  is  among  the  very  best  sources  of  information.  The  three  volumes 
carry  the  history  to  the  year  840,  when  all  the  tribes  of  Arabia  were  con- 
quered to  Islam. 

[Caussin  de  Perceval.     Les  sept  Moallakat.     Texte  Arabe.     Quarto.     Paris.] 

Ch6nier,  Louis  Sauveur  de.  Recherches  historiques  sur  les  Maures.  Three  vol- 
umes. Paris,  1787.  This  author  resided  several  years  at  Constantinople,  and 
became  interested  in  his  subject. 

Chesney,  Francis  Rawdon.  The  expedition  for  the  survey  of  the  rivers  Euphrates 
and  Tigris,  carried  on  by  order  of  the  British  government,  in  the  years  1835, 
1836,  and  1837.  Two  volumes,  and  maps  separate.  London,  1850.  Chapters 
xiv.  to  xix.  of  volume  II.  comprise  many  facts  connected  with  "  The  Story 
of  the  Saracens,"  though  they  are  not  abreast  with  present  scholarship. 

Circourt,  Anne  Marie  Joseph  Albert,  Count  de.  Histoire  des  Mores  Mudejares, 
et  des  Morisques,  ou  des  Arabes  d'Espagne  sous  la  domination  des  Chreti- 
ens.    Three  volumes,  octavo.     Paris,  1846-1848. 

Clark,  Edson  Lyman.  The  Arabs  and  the  Turks  ;  their  origin  and  history,  their 
religion,  their  imperial  greatness  in  the  past,  and  their  conditional  the  pres- 
ent time.  A  brief  r6sum6  of  the  "  Story  of  the  Saracens  "  is  given  here  in 
seventy  pages.     Boston,  1876. 

Clarke,  James  Freeman.  Ten  great  religions.  Boston,  1871.  Islam  receives  fair 
treatment  in  the  course  of  Dr.  Clarke's  investigations. 

Clerc,  Alfred.     See  Perron,  Dr. 


456 


LIST  OF  BOOKS. 


Clouston,  W.  A.  Arabian  poetry  for  English  readers,  Glasgow,  1881.  Privately 
printed.  This  volume  contains  translations  by  Sir  William  Jones,  Professor 
Joseph  Dacres  Carlyle,  J.  W.  Redhouse,  and  others,  from  many  Arabian 
poets.  The  first  mentioned  vi^as  the  first  Orientalist  of  his  time  ;  Carlyle 
was  professor  at  Oxford  ;  and  Redhouse  lived  twenty  years  among  the  Mos- 
lems. 

Conde,  Jos6  Antonio.  Historia  de  la  dominacion  de  los  Arabes  en  Espafia. 
Three  volumes,  folio.  Madrid,  1820-21.  The  same  in  English  in  Bohn's 
Library,  2  vols.,  London,  1854.  This  was  long  considerably  esteemed  as  an 
authentic  source  of  information.  It  was  compiled  from  Arabic  works. 
Gayangos  said  that  it  contained  many  blunders  and  contradictions,  and  that 
though  ''  the  foundation  of  all  our  knowledge  of  Mohammedan  Spain,"  it 
was  "  far  from  fulfilling  the  expectations  of  the  scholar."  Dozy  asserts 
that  Conde  forged  his  dates  and  invented  his  facts.  It  should  be  said  that 
the  book  was  printed  after  the  author's  death. 

Copp6e,  Henry.  History  of  the  conquest  of  Spain  by  the  Arab-Moors.  Boston, 
1881.     Two  volumes. 

Crichion,  Andrew.  The  history  of  Arabia,  ancient  and  modern.  Two  volumes, 
eighteenmo.  London,  1833.  New  York,  1834.  The  author  made  good  use 
of  the  authorities  at  hand  half  a  century  ago. 

Darmesteter,  James.     Coup  d'oeil  sur  I'histoire  de  la  Perse.     Paris,  1885. 

Le  Mahdi  depuis  les  origines  de  I'lslam  jusqu'fi,  nos  jours.     Pans,  1885. 

Valuable  and  succinct. 

Daumer,  Georg  Friedrich.  Mahomed  und  sein  Werk  ;  Eine  Sammlung  orienta- 
lischer  Gedichte.     One  volume,  sixteenmo.     Hamburg,  1848. 

Desvergers,  Joseph  Marie  Adolphe  Noel.  Arabic.  In  a  series  of  volumes  entitled 
L'universe.  One  volume,  octavo,  Paris,  1847,  Thorough  for  a  sketch, 
though  somewhat  heavy. 

Histoire   de    I'Afrique   sous    la    domination    Musulmane    (.Ibn    Kaldoun), 

1841. 

[ La  vie  de  Mahomet  of  Abulfeda.] 

Deutsch,  Emanuel  Oscar  Menahem.  Literary  remains,  London  and  New  York, 
1874.  Besides  the  essay  on  Islam,  this  volume  comprises  some  other  chap- 
ters on  kindred  topics. 

Islam.     London  Quarterly  Review.     October,  1869.     (Reprinted  in  Bos- 

worth-Smith's  work.)     It  is  a  masterly  presentation  of  the  subject  of  the 
prophet's  teachings. 

Diercks,  Gustav.     Die  Araber  im  Mittelalter,  und  ihr   Einfluss   auf   die   Cultur 

Europa's.     One  volume,  octavo.     Leipzig,  1882. 
Dieterici,  Friedrich.     Die  Lehre  von  der  Weltseele  bei  den  Arabern  im  X,  Jahr- 

hundert. 
■ Die  Naturanschauung  und  Naturphilosophie  der  Araber  im  Zehnten  Jahr- 

hundert,     Posen,  1864.     Professor  in  the  University  of  Berlin,  and  author  of 

"  Reisebilder  aus  dem  Morgenlande."    Berlin,  1853.    Two  volumes.  Egypt, 

Palestine  and  Arabia  Petrea. 

Die  Philosophie  der  Araber  im  X.  Jahrhundert.     One  volume,  octavo. 

Leipzig,  1876.     A  sketch  of  the  brothers  of  purity. 

Dods,  Marcus.  Mohammed,  Buddha,  and  Christ.  London,  1877.  The  first  por- 
tion discusses  Islam,  with  many  references  to  authorities. 


LIST  OF  BOOSTS.  457 

Dozy,  Reinhardt  Pieter  Anne.  Essai  siir  I'histoire  de  I'Islamisme.  Traduit  du 
HoUandais  par  Victor  Chauvin.  One  volume,  octavo.  Leyden  and  Paris, 
1879.  ^"^  admirable  presentation  of  the  faith  of  Islam,  of  its  history, 
legends,  and  sects. 

. Histoire  des  Musulmans  d'Espagne,  jusq'S,  la  conquete  de  I'Andalousie 

par  les  Almoravides.  Four  volumes,  eighteenmo.  Leyden,  1861.  This 
learned  Hollander  has  published  other  important  volumes  on  topics  con- 
nected with  the  Arabs  and  the  Berbers,  and  they  are  all  of  the  highest  value. 
He  repudiates  Conde,  declaring  his  work  utterly  unworthy  of  confidence. 

—    Die  'israeliten   zu   Mekka  von   David's  Zeit  bis  ins  fiinfte  Jahrhundert 

unserer  Zeitrechnung.     Leipzig,  1864. 

Recherches  sur  I'histoire  et  la  litterature  de  I'Espagne  pendant  le  moyen 

Sge.     Two  volumes  (third  edition),  octavo,     Leyden,  1881. 

Dugat,  Gustave.  Histoire  des  philosophes  et  des  theologiens  Musulmans,  de  632 
d  1258  de  J.  C.  Paris,  1878.  A  detailed  consideration  of  the  subject,  with  a 
full  index. 

Histoire  politique  et  litt6raire  des  Arabes  d'Espagne.  This  is  a  transla- 
tion of  Al  Makkari.     Five  volumes,  quarto.     Paris,  1854-1859, 

Dunn,  Archibald  J.  The  rise  and  decay  of  the  rule  of  Islam.  London,  1877. 
The  first  hundred  pages  of  this  book  treat  the  subject  of  the  "  Story  of  the 
Saracens  "  in  a  very  brief  but  somewhat  inexact  and  sketchy  manner,  being 
introductory  to  the  discussion  of  the  "  Eastern  Question,"  which  occupies 
the  remaining  eighteen  chapters.  The  book  does  not  reflect  the  latest 
scholarship. 

Elma9in,  George.  [Historia  Saracenica.]  L'histoireMahom6tane,ou  lesquarante- 
neuf  chalifes  du  Macine.  Translated  by  Pierre  Vattier.  One  volume,  quarto. 
Paris,  1657.  This  book  comprises  extracts  from  the  great  work  of  Elma9in. 
The  names  of  the  Arabians  are  disfigured  almost  beyond  recognition.  The 
translator  apologizes  for  introducing  his  forty-nine  heroes  (enemies  of  the 
Christian  faith)  to  polite  French  society.  The  dedication  to  Cardinal 
Mazarin  and  the  preface  are  perhaps  more  interesting  than  the  rest  of  the 
volume.     Vattier  was  an  Orientalist  of  no  mean  merit,  however. 

Ferreras,  Juan  de.  Synopsis  hist6rica  chronologica  de  Espafia.  New  edition,  re- 
vised.    Seventeen  volumes,  square  duodecimo.     Madrid,  1775-1781. 

Florian,  Jean  Pierre  Claris  de.  The  Moors  in  Spain.  (Translation.)  New  York, 
1840. 

Flugel,  Gustav  Leberecht.  Die  Geschichteder  Araber,  bis  auf  den  Sturz  des  Cha- 
lifats  von  Bagdad.  Three  volumes.  Dresden,  1832.  Zittau  und  Leipzig, 
1838.  Leipzig,  1840.  These  r.mall  volumes  belong  to  the  "  Allgemeine 
Historische  Taschenbibliothek  fiir  Jedermann."  Flugel  was  professor  at 
Meissen  from  1832  to  1850.  H'  published  an  edition  of  the  Koran,  and  a 
concordance  to  it. 

Fogg,  Wm.  Perry.  Arabistan  ;  or.  The  land  of  the  Arabian  Nights,  being  travels 
through  Egypt,  Arabia,  and  Persia  to  Bagdad,  with  an  introduction  by  Bay- 
ard Taylor.  London,  1875.  The  author,  an  American,  illustrates  his  book 
with  many  cuts  from  photographs  which  well  represent  the  scenes  mentioned. 

Forster,  Charles.  The  historical  geography  of  Arabia  ;  or.  The  patriarchal  evi- 
dences of  revealed  religion.     Two  volumes.     London,  1844. 

Mahometanism  unveiled.    London,  1829.    This  author  unveiled  the  animus 


458 


LIST  OF  BOOKS. 


of  his  work  in  his  title,  in  which  he  stated  that  it  was  an  enquiry  into  an 
"  arch-heresy."  Historians  no  longer  attempt  to  show  their  orthodoxy  by 
calling  names.  Mohammed  was  to  this  writer  the  little  horn  of  the  beast 
mentioned  in  the  eighth  chapter  of  Daniel. 

Fournel,  Marie  J6r6me  Henri.  Les  Berbers.  Etude  sur  la  conquete  de  I'Afrique 
par  les  Arabes,  d'apres  les  textes  Arabes  imprimis.  One  volume.  Paris, 
1875.  The  author  died  in  1876,  and  this  volume  only  was  published.  In  the 
preface  there  is  a  discriminative  dissertation  on  the  former  writers  upon  the 
subjects  treated.  , 

Fraser,  James  Baillie.  Travels  in  Koordistan  and  Mesopotamia.  London,  1840. 
The  same  author,  who  was  an  extensive  traveller,  wrote  "  My  journey  into 
Khorasan,"  (1821),  "  Travels  and  adventures  in  the  Persian  provinces," 
(1826),  and  an  account  of  a  journey  from  Constantinople  to  Teheran. 

Freeman,  Edward  Augustus.  The  history  and  conquests  of  the  Saracens.  Lon- 
don, 1856.  (Third  edition,  1877.)  An  exceedingly  profitable  sketch  by  a 
master. 

Fresnel,  Fulgence.  Lettres  sur  I'histoire  des  Arabes  avant  I'Islamisme.  One 
volume,  octavo.     Paris,  1836. 

Gagnier,  Jean,  La  vie  de  Mahomet.  Amsterdam,  1732.  This  is  one  of  the  first 
lives  of  the  prophet  written  from  original  sources,  and  contests  with  the  book 
of  the  Count  de  Boulainvilliers  the  honor  of  being  the  first  to  oppose  the 
prejudices  that  had  inspired  all  previous  writers  on  the  subject  of  Islam. 
It  marks  a  reaction  in  favor  of  the  historical  spirit  in  such  investigations. 
Gagnier  was  professor  of  Semitic  languages  at  Oxford. 

Galland,  Antoine.  Les  mille  et  une  nuits,  with  a  dissertation  by  Baron  Silvestre 
de  Sacy.  Paris,  1840  ;  originally  published  in  1704-17.  (Twelve  volumes.) 
The  best  edition  of  this  translation,  however,  is  that  by  Caussin  de  Perceval, 
1806.  Galland  lived  in  the  East  a  long  time,  and  was  well  acquainted  with 
Eastern  manners,  customs,  and  languages. 

Garcin  de  Tassy,  Josephe  Heliodore  Sagesse  Vertu.  Exposition  de  la  foi  Musul- 
mane,  traduite  du  Turc  de  Mohammed-ben-Pir-Ali-el-Berkeri.  One  volume, 
octavo.  Paris,  1822.  This  eminent  Orientalist,  a  native  of  Marseilles,  was 
a  pupil  of  Silvestre  de  Sacy. 

Gayangos,  Pascual.  An  historical  notice  of  the  kings  of  Granada  from  the  con- 
quest of  that  city  by  the  Arabs  to  the  expulsion  of  the  Moors.  One  volume, 
sixteenmo.  "  Crystal  Palace  Library."  London,  1854.  (Reprinted  from  the 
"  Plans,  elevations,  and  sections  of  the  Alhambra."  London,  1842.)  See  also 
Makkari. 

Geiger,  Abraham.  Was  hat  Mohammed  aus  dem  Judenthume  aufgenommen  ? 
Bonn,  1833.  Geiger,  an  Orientalist  rabbi,  published  this  brief  study  at  the 
age  of  twenty-three,  having  previously  taken  a  prize  at  the  university  of 
Bonn  for  it  as  an  essay  on  the  Hebraic  sources  of  the  Koran.  Dozy  pro- 
nounces it  very  instructive,  though  here  and  there  a  little  behind  the  times. 

Gibbon,  Edward.  Chapters  1.,  li..  Hi.,  of  The  decline  and  fall  of  the  Roman  em- 
pire. A  wonderfully  graphic  account  of  the  rise  and  decline  of  the  Saracens. 
The  many  notes  refer  to  the  author's  authorities. 

Gobineau,  Joseph  Arthur,  Count  de.  Les  religions  et  les  philosophies  dans  I'Asie 
Centrale.  (Second  edition.)  Paris,  1866.  Chapter  iii.  gives  an  account  of 
Islam,  and  of  the  origin  of  the  Alyite  schism,  and  chapter  xiii.  describes  the 
Persian  theatre  and  the  celebration  of  Moharrerr 


LIST  OF  BOOKS.  459 

[Goeje,  Michael  Jan  de.  Fragmenta  historlcorum  Arabicorum.  Lugd.  Batavorum, 
1869.    Two  volumes,  quarto.] 

Goergens,  E.  P.,  Professor  in  the  University  of  Berne.  Der  Islam  und  die  mod- 
erne  Kultur.  In  "'Deutsche  Zeit-  und  Streit-Fragen,"  viii.  Berlin,  1879. 
Pages  261-308. 

Goldziher,  Ignaz.  Die  Zahiriten,  ihr  Lehrsystem  und  ihre  Geschichte.  Beitrag  zur 
Geschichte  der  Muhammedanischen  Theologie.  Leipzig,  1884.  One  volume, 
octavo. 

Greene,  Samuel.  A  brief  account  of  the  rise  and  decline  of  the  Mohammedan  em- 
pire. (From  Greene's  life  of  Mohammed.)  In  a  translation  of  Florian's 
Moors  in  Spain.     New  York,  1840. 

Guignes,  Joseph  de.  Histoire  g6n6rale  des  Huns,  des  Turcs,  des  Mogols,  et  des 
autres  Tartares  Occidentaux.  Four  volumes,  quarto.  Paris,  1835.  Origi- 
nally published  in  five  volumes.  Paris,  1756-58.  The  topics  of  the  "  Story 
of  the  Saracens"  are  treated  in  books  vi.,  vii.,  x.-xii.,  xv.-xviii. 

Guy*rd,  Stanislas.  La  civilisation  Musulmane.  Paris,  1884.  The  author  of  this 
able  little  volume  was  formerly  professor  in  the  College  of  France,  and  his 
work  is  of  the  highest  authority.  The  same  writer  contributed  the  article 
on  "  Musulmans  "  to  the  "  Encyclopedic  des  Sciences  Religieuses,"  vol. 
ix.,  pp.  50J-511.  Paris,  Felix  Lechtenberger,  ed.  1880.  Guyard  contributed 
also  to  the  "  Encyclopedia  Britannica  "  (ninth  edition)  an  article  on  the  East- 
ern Kalifate,  vol.  xvi.,  pp.  561-597. 

Fragments  relatifs  a  la  doctrine  des  Isma61is.  Texte  publi6  pour  la  pre- 
miere fois,  avec  une  traduction  complete  et  des  notes.  One  volume,  quarto, 
Paris,  1874. 

Hakem,  Ibn-abd-el.     See  Jones,  J.  H. 

Hammer-Purgstall,  Joseph,  Baron  von.  Gemaldesaal  der  Lebenbeschreibungen 
grosser  moslimischer  Herrscher.  Six  volumes.  Leipzig  and  Darmstadt,  1837- 
1839.  These  volumes  contain  sketches  of  fifty  persons,  including  Moham- 
med, Abu  Bekr,  Omar,  Othman,  Ali,  Moawia,  Yezid,  Merwan,  Abd  el  Melik, 
Welid,  Abul  Abbas,  Mansur,  Harun,  Mamun,  Motassim,  Abder  Rahman  of 
Spain,  Mahmud  the  Gaznevide,  and  Togrul  the  Seljuk. 

Literaturgeschichte  der  Araber.    Seven  volumes,  octavo.  Wien,  1850-1856. 

The  reputation  of  this  laborious  author  is  not  so  high  as  it  formerly  was. 

Uber  die  Landerverwaltung  unter  demChalifate.     One  volume,  octavo. 

Berlin,  1835. 

Herbelot,  Barth61emy,  d'.  Biblioth^que  Orientale,  ou  dlctionnaire  universel,  con- 
tenant  tout  ce  qui  fait  connoitre  les  peuples  de  I'Orient.  Edited  by  Antoine 
Galand,  and  published  after  the  author's  death.  Paris,  1697.  I'his  e.\ten- 
sive  volume  though  uncritical,  is  a  mine  of  information  which  the  Oriental 
student  cannot  ignore  yet. 

Higgins,  Godfrey.  Anacalypsis,  an  attempt  to  draw  aside  the  veil  of  the  Saitic 
Isis  ;  or  an  inquiry  into  the  origin  of  languages,  nations,  and  religions.  Two 
volumes,  quarto.  London,  1836.  Vol.  i.,  pp.  678-688,  specially  treats  Mo- 
hammed and  Islam  in  a  vigorous  but  erratic  style.  Higgins  published  in 
1829,  a  life  of  Mohammed,  which  Edward  Upham  pronounces,  in  the  Gettile- 
viati' s M agazine  for  January,  1830  (p.  10),  "  full  of  errors."  The  author  is, 
however,  cherished  with  "high  esteem  and  respect"  for  his  learniisg  and 
ability  and  "  correct  view"  of  Islam,  by  Syed  i^hmed. 


460 


LIST  OF  BOOKS. 


Howorth,  Henry  H.  History  of  the  Mongols  from  the  ninth  to  the  nineteenth 
century.  Part  I.  The  Mongols  proper  and  the  Kalmuks.  London,  1876. 
Contains  a  good  chapter  on  Jingis  Khan.  Marred  by  a  preface  of  singular 
self-consciousness. 

Hughes,  Thomas  Patrick.  A  dictionary  of  Islam,  being  a  cyclopaedia  of  the  doc- 
trines, rites,  ceremonies,  and  customs,  together  with  the  technical  and  theo- 
logical terms  of  the  Muhammadan  religion.  London  and  New  York,  1885. 
Very  valuable  and  modern.  The  author  (now  in  America)  lived  many  years 
in  India. 

Notes  on  Muhammadanism.     (Second  edition.)     London,  1877. 

Ibn-Khaldun.     See  Desvergers,  and  Slane. 

Ireland,  William.  The  blot  upon  the  brain.  Studies  in  history  and  psychology. 
One  volume,  octavo.  New  York,  1886.  Paper  ii  treats  "  the  hallucina- 
tion of  Mohammed." 

Irving,  Washington.  Mahomet  and  his  successors.  Two  vols.  New  York,  1849.  In 
these  two  volumes  this  usually  fascinating  author  tells  his  story  in  a  less  en- 
tertaining style  than  would  be  expected,  and  he  does  not  rank  high  as  a 
scientific  historical  student.  He  wrote  before  the  late  studies  on  the  subject 
were  made  public,  and  failed  in  some  cases  to  give  his  facts  in  their  proper 
relation. 

Spanish  papers  and  other  miscellanies,  hitherto  unpublished  and  uncol- 
lected. Arranged  and  edited  by  Pierre  M.  Irving.  Two  volumes.  New 
York  (revised  edition),  1850.  (Also  the  first  edition  published  by  Bohn  in 
London.)  The  first  of  the  volumes,  only,  refers  to  the  conquest  of  Spain  by 
the  Moors,  and  is  very  interesting  in  connection  with  the  history  of  the  pe- 
riod on  account  of  the  many  romantic  episodes  that  Mr.  Irving  incorporated 
in  his  narrative.     The  "  Fra  Antonio  Agapida  "  of  the  book  is  a  creature  of 

the  author's  imagination. 

Jacolliot,  Louis.  Manou,  Molse,  Mahomet.  Traditions  religeuses  compar^es  des  lois 
de  Manou,  de  la  Bible,  du  Coran.     One  volume,  octavo.     Paris,  1876. 

r  Tessup,  Henry  H,  The  Mohammedan  missionary  problem.  One  vol.,  i6mo,  with 
map.  Philadelphia,  1879.  The  author  (a  missionary  in  Beirut)  presents  the 
features  of  Islam  favorable  and  unfavorable  to  the  spread  of  Christianity.] 

Johnson,  Samuel.  Oriental  religions.  Persia.  Boston,  1884.  Islam,  pp.  530- 
782. 

Jomard,  Edme-Fran^ois.     See  Mohammed-Aly. 

Jones,  John  Harris.  Ibn  abd-el  Hakem's  history  of  the  conquest  of  Spain,  now 
edited  for  the  first  time.  Translated  from  the  Arabic.  Goettingen  and  Lon- 
don, 1858.  This  small  volume  contains  the  Arabic  text,  a  translation  and 
notes,  and  an  historical  introduction,  in  which  there  are  critical  references  to 
authorities. 

Kazimirski,  Aleksander  von  Biberstein.  Civilisation  Musulmane.  Observations 
historiques  et  critiques  sur  le  Mahometanisme.  From  the  English  of  Sale. 
In  Les  livres  sacr6s  de  I'Orient,  by  Jean  Pierre  Guillaume  Pauthier.  Paris, 
1840,  pp.  463-538.  Also  the  Koran,  pp.  539-752.  The  volume  contains  also 
the  Chou-King  and  the  laws  of  Manou,  with  descriptive  introductions. 

Le  Koran.     Traduction  falte  sur  le  texte  Arabe.     Paris,  1859.     A  revised 

edition  of  this  version  is  given  in  Les  livres  sacr4s  de  I'Orient,  by  /.  P.  G, 
Pauthier,  Paris,  1840.     Kazimirski  was  a  Polish  exile. 


LIST  OF  BOOKS.  46 1 

Keane,  J.  F.  My  journey  to  Medinah.  London,  1881.  An  entertaining  volume 
of  travel. 

Khallikan,  Ibn.     See  Slane,  Wm.  McG. 

Kindy,  Al.  The  apology  of.  Written  at  the  court  of  Al  Mamun,  in  defence  of 
Christianity  against  Islam,  with  an  essay  on  its  age  and  authorship.  By  Sir 
William  Muir.     London,  1882. 

Krehl,  Christoph  Ludolf  Ehrenfried.  Das  Leben  des  Muhammed.  Leipzig,  1884. 
One  small  and  comprehensive  volume  which  the  author  intends  to  follow  with 
another  on  the  teachings  of  the  prophet.  [Krehl  wrote  also  "  Ueber  die  Re- 
ligion der  vorisla'mischen  Araber."     One  volume,  quarto.     Leipzig,  1863.] 

Kremer,  Alfred  von.  Culturgeschichte  des  Orients  unter  den  Chalifen.  Two 
volumes,  octavo.     Wien,  1875-1877. 

Geschichte  der  herrschenden   Ideen   des  Islams,     Der  Gottesbegriff ,  die 

Prophetic  und  Staatsidee.     Leipzig,  1868. 

[La  Croix, .     Anecdotes  Arabes  et  Musulmanes.     Paris,  1772.] 

Lake,  John  Joseph.  Islam  :  its  origin,  genius,  and  mission.  London,  1878.  A 
brief,  sympathetic  outline,  in  which  the  author  attempts  to  prove  that  "  the 
Western  World  is  greatly  indebted  to  the  Moslems  for  its  present  state  of 
advancement." 
Lane,  Edward  William.  An  account  of  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  modern 
Egyptians,  written  in  Egypt  during  the  years  1833,  1834,  and  1835.  Two 
volumes,  sixteenmo.  London,  1836, 1837.  This  is  the  most  accessible  source 
of  accurate  information  about  Arabian  manners. 

Selections  from  the  Kur-an.     New  edition,  revised  and  enlarged,  with  an 

introduction,  by  Stanley  Lane-Poole.  [Original  edition,  London,  1843.] 
Boston,  1879. 

The  thousand  and  one  nights.  Edited  by  his  nephew,  Edward  Stanley- 
Poole.  London,  1865.  The  three  volumes  of  this  beautiful  work  are  a  mine 
of  information  about  the  habits  and  customs  of  the  Arabians. 

Lane-Poole,  Stanley.  Le  Koran  :  sa  poesie  et  ses  lois.  The  materials  of  this  vol- 
ume appeared  in  English  in  the  same  author's  Table-talk  of  Mohammed. 
It  treats  the  Koran  under  the  heads  of  poetry,  rhetoric,  argument,  harangues, 
and  laws.     Paris,  1882. 

Studies  in  a  mosque.     London,  1883.     Contains  an  important  chapter  on 

the  festival  of  Moharrem,  an  account  of  the  Brotherhood  of  Purity  of 
Bassora  (a.d.  975),  and  much  other  matter  of  interest. 

The  speeches  and  table-talk  of  Mohammad,  chosen  and  translated,  with 

an  introduction  and  notes,  by  Stanley  Lane-Poole.  London,  1882.  Coi.- 
tains  in  brief  compass  much  information  concerning  the  prophet  and  his 
teachings. 

Le  Bon,  Gustave.  La  civilisation  des  Arabes.  Paris,  1884.  This  volume  is  ele- 
gantly illustrated,  and  a  number  of  its  graphic  pictures  have  been  repro- 
duced for ''  The  Story  of  the  Saracens."  A  valuable  ''  Bibliographic  ni6tho- 
dique  "  occupies  pp.  679-686. 

Lee,  Samuel.  See  Martyn,  Henry.  Lee  was  professor  of  Arabic  at  Cambridge. 
Died  in  1852. 

Lembke,  Friedrich  Wilhelm.  Geschichte  von  Spanien.  Four  volumes.  Ham- 
burg, 1831,  1844.  Gotha,  1861,  1881.  Vol.  i  ,  pp.  249-308  treats  the  subject 
as  far  as  it  falls  within  the  scope  of  this  volume. 


462 


LIST  OF  BOOKS. 


Loftus,  W.  K.  Travels  and  researches  in  Chaldsa  and  Suslana.  London,  1857. 
Touches  "  The  Story  of  the  Saracens  "  at  some  points.  See  also  La  Revut 
ArcheologiqiiCy  for  1885,  vol.  ii.,  article  by  Dieulefoy. 

Lopez  de  Caiiete,  Cristobal.  Compendio  de  los  Pronosticos  y  batlcinios  antigvos 
y  modernos,  que  publican  la  declinaclon  general  de  la  secta  de  Mahoma,  y 
libertad  de  Hierusalem,  y  Palestina.  One  volume  small  quarto.  Granada, 
1630.  ]\Ir.  Ticknor  inscribes  this  volume,  "  A  specimen  of  the  popular  no- 
tions about  Mahomet  and  Islamism  in  Spain  in  1630."  Mohammed's  birth 
is  put  at  596  A.D. 

Macbride,  John  David.  Mohammedanism  explained  ;  with  an  introductory 
sketch  of  its  progress,  and  suggestions  as  to  its  confutation.  One  volume 
octavo.  London,  1857.  The  author  was  Principal  of  Magdalen  Hall,  and 
Lord  High  Almoner's  reader  in  Arabic  in  the  University  of  Oxford. 

Maitland,  Edward.  England  and  Islam  :  or,  The  counsel  of  Caiaphas.  One  vol- 
ume, duodecimo.     London,  1877. 

Makkari,  Ahmed  ibn  Mohammed,  al.  The  history  of  the  Mohammedan  dynasties 
in  Spain.  Translated  and  illustrated  with  critical  notes  by  Pascual  de  Gay- 
angos.  Two  volumes,  quarto.  London,  1 840-1 843.  This  is  the  only  Arabian 
author  who  gives  an  uninterrupted  narrative  of  the  conquests,  wars,  and 
settlements  of  the  Moors  in  Spain  from  their  first  invasion  to  the  final  ex- 
pulsion.    Makkarf  died  in  (1041  a.h.)  1631  A.D. 

Malleson,  George  Bruce.  History  of  Afghanistan  from  the  earliest  period.  Lon- 
don, 1879.  (Second  edition.)  This  volume  contains  a  description  of  Kabul, 
p.  6. 

Mariana,  Juan  de.  Historia  general  de  Espaiia.  Seven  volumes,  duodecimo. 
Madrid,  1794.  Continuation  by  Joseph  Manuel  Miniana.  Three  volumes, 
Madrid,  1795.  Mariana's  work  was  originally  published  in  Latin  in  1592.  A 
Spanish  translation  was  published  in  folio,  in  three  volumes,  in  Madrid,  in 

1733-41. 

Marigny,  Fran§ois  Augier,  Abb6  de.  Histoire  des  Arabes  sous  le  gouvernement 
des  Califes.     Four  volumes.     Paris,  1750. 

Histoire  des  revolutions  de  I'empire  des  Arabes.     Paris,  1750.     The  first 

of  the  four  volumes  of  this  work  is  the  one  specially  connected  with  the 
present  subject.  It  comprises  a  geographical  table  giving  some  account  of 
the  kingdoms,  provinces,  and  cities  of  the  Kalifate  and  the  surrounding 
peoples,  and  an  account  of  the  dynasties  of  the  Taherlans,  Soffarides, 
Samanides,  Fatlmites  (Ismailians),  Buvides  (Dilemltes),  Gaznevides,  and 
Seljucides.  The  orthography  of  names  is  comparatively  simple,  and  very 
much  better  than  that  of  Vattier.     (Same,  edited  by  I'Abbe  Perau,  1752.) 

Markham,  Clements  Robert.  A  general  sketch  of  the  history  of  Persia.  London, 
1874.  A  sketchy  account  of  the  Saracens  before  the  fall  of  Bagdad  is  to  be 
found  in  this  volume.  Genealogies  of  the  Omiad  and  Abbasside  kallfs  are 
given. 

Martin,  Joseph  Manuel.  Historia  verdadera  de  falso  profeta  Mahoma,  sacada  de 
San  Euloglo,  Juan  Sangredo,  Fr.  Jayme  Bleda,  y  otros  historladores.  Val- 
ladolld.  No  date.  One  of  a  collection  made  by  Mr.  Ticknor,  of  which  he 
says  that  it  "  contains  the  prose  tracts  most  current  among  the  common 
people  of  Spain  between  1840  and  1850  ;  or  rather  a  fair  and  characteristic 
selection  from  them." 


LIST  OF  BOOKS.  463 

Martyn,  Henry.  Controversial  tracts  on  Christianity  and  Mohammedanism. 
Cambridge,  1824.  Martyn  was  aided  by  some  "  of  the  most  eminent  writers 
of  Persia."  The  collection  was  prepared  by  the  Rev.  S.  Lee.  The  Per- 
sians support  Islam  and  Martyn  opposes  it.     Lee  sums  up  the  arguments. 

Marvin,  Charles.  Merv,  the  queen  of  the  world  ;  and  the  scourge  of  the  man- 
stealing  Turcomans.     London,  1881.     Vambery  is  much  lauded. 

Masdeu,  Juan  Francisco  de.  Historia  cri'tica  de  Espafia,  y  de  la  cultura  Espanola. 
Twenty  volumes,  small  quarto.  Madrid,  1783-1805.  This  work  was  first 
published  in  Italy  in  1781.  Vols,  xii.-xiv.  treat  the  Arabian  period,  the 
last-mentioned  being  occupied  with  important  tables,  in  which  the  years  of 
our  era  are  placed  opposite  those  of  the  Mohammedan  calendar. 

Masudi.     See  Barbier  de  Meynard. 

Maurice,  Frederick  Denison.  The  religions  of  the  world  and  their  relations  to 
Christianity.  London  (and  Boston,  1854).  Portions  of  these  important  con- 
tributions to  the  theme  treated  relate  to  the  religion  of  the  Moslems. 

Mercier,  Ernest.  Histoire  de  I'etablissement  des  Arabes  dans  I'Afrique  Septen- 
trionale.  [From  about  iioo  B.C.]  Constantine,  Alger,  and  Paris,  1875. 
The  author  has  followed  Arabian  authors,  and  especially  Ibn  Khaldun.  A 
good  map  shows  the  positions  of  Kairwan,  Ceuta,  Tangier,  and  the  other 
places  mentioned  in  "  The  Story  of  the  Saracens." 

Merrick,  James  Lyman.  The  life  and  religion  of  Mohammed,  as  contained  in  the 
Sheeah  traditions  of  the  HyS.t-ul-Kuloob.  Translated  from  the  Persian. 
One  volume,  duodecimo.     Boston,  1850. 

Miles,  George  H,  Mohammed,  the  Arabian  prophet.  A  tragedy,  in  five  acts, 
which  won  a  prize  of  $1,000,  offered  by  Edwin  Forrest.     Boston,  1850. 

Mills,  Charles.  A  history  of  Muhammedanism.  London,  1818.  (Revised  edi- 
tion.) A  somewhat  calm  study  of  the  subject  by  an  English  barrister,  who 
read  a  large  number  of  Oriental  books  preparatory  to  writing. 

Milman,  Henry  Hart.  History  of  Latin  Christianity.  In  six  volumes.  Second 
edition.  London,  1857.  Book  iv.,  chapters  one  and  two.  Mohammed  and 
successors  of  Mohammed.  Revised  after  reading  Sprenger's  Mohammed. 
Dr.  Weil  was  among  Milman's  chief  authorities  in  treating  Mohammed's 
successors.  Milman  gives  a  good  table  of  contemporary  chronology  (on 
pages  444,  445)  from  a.d.  604-815. 

Miniana.     See  Mariana. 

Moallakat.  See  Caussin  de  Perceval.  [A  work  by  Arnold  is,  however,  later,  and 
valuable.] 

Mohammed  Ali.  Etudes  geographiques  et  historiques  sur  I'Arabie,  avec  des  ob- 
servations sur  I'etat  des  affaires  en  Arable  et  en  Egypte  par  M.  [Edme. 
Fran9ois]  Jomard.  Paris,  1839.  Jomard  accompanied  the  French  army 
to  Egypt  in  1798,  and  remained  there  four  years. 

[Mohler,  Johann  Adam.  (1796-1838.)  Islam  et  I'Evangile.  Translated  by  J.  P. 
Menge,  with  a  preface  by  John  Muir.     Calcutta,  1847.] 

Morgan,  Joseph.     Mahometanism  fully  explained.     London,  1723.     Antiquated. 

Mozley,  James  Bowling.  Eight  lectures  on  miracles.  [Bampton  lectures  of  1865.] 
London,  1867.  (Second  edition.)  Lecture  vii.,  page  180,  and  note,  page  354, 
refer  to  Islam.  Dr.  Mozley  asserts  that  "  Mahomet  was  perfectly  ac- 
quainted with  the  gospel  and  with  the  moral  standard  of  the  gospel,"  which 
"  he  wholly  threw  aside."      This  is  generally  denied,  however. 


464  LIST  OF  BOOKS. 

Miiller,  Friedrich  August.  Die  Behenscher  der  Glaubigen.  Pamphlet.  Pp.  47. 
Berlin,  1882. 

Der  Islam  im  Morgen-  und  Abendland.     Mit  Abbildungen  und  Karten. 

Erster  Band.  Berlin,  1885.  This  volume  belongs  to  a  series  edited  by  Dr. 
Wilhelm  Oncken,  Allgemeine  Geschichte  in  Einzeldarstellungen,  A  valuable 
beck.    The  latest  comprehensive  work  of  its  class. 

Muir,  Sir  William.  The  Coran,  its  composition  and  teaching,  and  the  testimony- 
it  bears  to  the  Holy  Scripture.  London  and  New  York,  1878.  This  small 
volume  possesses  the  traits  of  Muir's  other  works  on  the  subject.  On  pages 
43-47  an  analytic  and  chronological  order  of  the  suras  is  given. 

■ The  early  Caliphate.  London,  1883.  In  this  volume  Sir  William  con- 
tinues the  history  begun  in  his  Life  of  Mahomet,  carrying  it  down  to  the  reign 
of  Yezid  I.,  though  after  the  death  of  Ali  the  story  is  simply  epitomised.  Its 
general  traits  are  the  same  as  those  of  the  former  work. 

The  life  of  Mahomet.     London,  1876.    (Revised  edition.)    This  is  the  best 

work  in  the  English  language  on  the  subject.  It  is  thorough,  based  on  origi- 
nal study,  and,  but  for  some  of  the  author's  preconceived  polemical  views, 
would  be  entirely  just.     Was  first  published  in  four  volumes.     No  index. 

Mahomet  and  Islam.    A  sketch  of  the  prophet's  life  from  original  sources, 

and  a  brief  outline  of  his  religion.  London  [1884].  A  valuable  outline,  bear- 
ing the  good  traits  of  the  author's  other  works. 

Murphy,  James  Cavanah.  The  Arabian  antiquities  of  Spain.  London,  1813. 
One  volume,  large  folio.  Illustrated  with  fine  engravings  on  copper.  [Mur- 
phy wrote  also  the  history  of  the  Mahometan  empire  in  Spain,  containing 
a  general  history  of  the  Arabs,  their  institutions,  conquests,  literature,  arts, 
sciences,  and  manners,  to  the  expulsion  of  the  Moors.     London,  1816.] 

Niebuhr,  Karsten.  Travels  in  Arabia  and  the  East.  The  father  of  the  better- 
known  historian  throws  much  light  on  the  subject  by  his  record.  A  life  of 
the  author  is  found  in  ''  Lives  of  Eminent  Persons."  London,  1833.  It  is  by 
Mrs.  Sarah  Taylor  Austin.     In  the  Library  of  Useful  Knowledge. 

[Noldeke,  Theodor.  Bietrage  zur  Kenntniss  der  Poesie  der  alten  Araber.  One 
volume,  octavo.     Hannover,  1864.] 

•      Das   Leben   Muhammed's,  nach   den    Quellen  popular  dargestellt.     One 

volume,  twelvemo.     Hannover,  1863. 

■ Geschichte   des  Qorans.     One  volume,  octavo.     Gottingen,  i860.     This 

work  was  crowned  by  the  French  Academy.  Noldeke  contributed  to  the 
ninth  edition  of  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica  a  valuable  article  on  the 
Koran.    Vol.  xvi.,  pp.  598-606. 

Ockley,  Simon.  The  history  of  the  Saracens  to  the  death  of  Abd  el  Melik.  Lon- 
don, 1708.  Late  ed.  Bohn  (1847).  This  book  is  a  standard,  but  it  has  not 
the  interest  nor  exactness  of  some  of  the  later  works. 

O'Donovan,  Edmond,  The  Merv  oasis.  London  and  New  York,  1882.  Two 
volumes  of  travel. 

Oelsner,  Conrad  Englebert.  Des  effets  de  la  religion  de  Mohammed  pendant  les 
trois  premiers  siScles  de  sa  fondation  sur  I'esprit,  les  moeurs,  et  le  gouverne- 
ment  des  peuples  chez  lesquels  cette  religion  s'est  6tablle.  Paris,  1810. 
Crowned  by  the  French  Academy,  July  7,  1809. 

Osborn,  Robert  Durie.  Islam  under  the  Arabs.  London,  1876.  Islam  under  tbff 
Khalifs  of  Bagdad.     London,  1878.     These  two  volumes  comprise  sketches 


LIST  OF  BOOKS.  465 

of  different  phases  of  Islam,  but  are  not  intended  to  be  a  connected  history. 
The  author  gives  many  interesting  details. 

[Osborne,  Mrs,  Willoughby.  A  pilgrimage  to  Mecca  by  the  Nawab  Sikander,  Be- 
gum of  Bhopal.  Translated  by  Mrs.  Osborne.  London  (i8£o?).  Notable  as 
the  first  book  written  by  an  Indian  lady,  and  that  lady  a  queen.] 

Palmer,  Edward  H.  Haroun  Alraschid  and  Saracen  civilization.  London  and 
New  York. 

The  Qur'an.     Oxford,  1880.     Two  volumes  of  "  The  Sacred  Books  of  the 

East,  translated  by  various  oriental  scholars  and  edited  by  F.  Max  Miiller." 
The  first  volume  (vol.  vi.  of  the  series)  contains  an  introduction  of  118  pages 
giving  an  abstract  of  all  the  suras,  and  much  other  valuable  information 
about  Islam.     Vol,  ii.  contains  an  index, 

Pastoret,  Claude  Emmanuel  Joseph  Pierre,  Marquis  de.  Zoroastre,  Confucius,  et 
Mahomet,  compares  comma  sectaires,  legislateurs,  et  moralistes.  Second 
edition.  One  volume,  twelvemo,  Paris,  1787.  Pastoret  exposes  some  of 
the  calumnies  of  Prideaux  and  others  (p.  213).  His  work  was  crowned  by 
the  Academy. 

Pauthier,  Jean  Pierre  Guillaume.     See  Kazimirski,  Aleksander. 

Pelly,  Colonel  Sir  Lewis,  The  miracle  play  of  Hasan  and  Husain,  collected  from 
oral  tradition.     Revised  by  Arthur  N.  Wollaston.     London,  1879. 

P6rau,  I'Abbd.  Histoire  des  revolutions  de  I'empire  des  Arabes,  by  Marigny. 
Edited  by  Perau.     Paris,  1752,     Four  volumes. 

Perron,  A,  Femmes  Arabes,  avant  et  depuis  I'Islamisme.  Paris,  1858.  An  ex- 
haustive discussion  of  the  condition  of  Arabian  women  in  Arabia  from  the 
earliest  times  to  the  reign  of  Mamun. 

-  L'Islamisme,  son  institution,  son  influence,  et  son  avenir.  Ouvrage  post- 
hume,  publie  et  annot6  par  son  neveu,  Alfred  Clerc.  Paris,  1877.  This  au- 
thor was  professor  of  chemistry  at  Cairo,  and  a  member  of  the  Soci6te  Asia- 
tique  about  1866. 

Pocock,  Edward.  Historia  compendiosa  dynastiarum  Orientalium  ;  from  Abulfa- 
raj,  of  Malatia.  Oxford,  1663.  Dr.  Pocock  studied  Arabic  at  Aleppo,  and 
was  afterwards  professor  of  the  language  at  his  native  place.  Gibbon,  in  a 
note  to  his  fifty-first  chapter,  says  :  "  The  English  scholar  understood  more 
Arabic  than  the  mufti  of  Aleppo." 

Specimen  historic  Arabum.     Extracts  from  Abulfaraj  of  Malatia,  on  the 

origin  and  customs  of  the  Arabs,  with  notes.  Oxford,  1650.  The  "  extracts  " 
are  comprised  in  pages  1-31,  and  the  notes  (which  have  a  separate  title-page 
dated  1648)  run  from  page  33  to  390.  The  extracts  are  in  Arabic  and  Latin 
on  opposite  pages,  and  the  notes  are  in  Latin.  This  work  is  the  one  so  fre- 
quently mentioned  by  Gibbon  as  an  authority. 

Poole,  Stanley  Lane,     See  Lane-Poole,  Stanley. 

Porter,  Josias  Leslie.  Five  years  in  Damascus.  London,  1855,  The  giant  cities 
of  Bashan.     London,  1865. 

Price,  David,  Chronological  retrospect  ;  or,  Memoirs  of  the  principal  events  of 
Mohammedan  history  from  the  death  of  the  Arabian  legislator  to  the  acces- 
sion of  the  emperor  Akbar.  From  original  Persian  authorities.  Three  vol- 
umes, quarto.     London,  1811. 

• Essay  towards  the  history  of  Arabia  antecedent  to  the  birth  of  Moham- 
med, arranged  from  Tarikh  Tebry,  and  other  authentic  sources.  One  vol- 
ume, quarto.     London,  1824. 


466 


LIST  OF  BOOKS, 


Prideaux,  Humphrey.  La  vie  de  Mahomet  ou  Ton  d6couvre  amplement  la  v6rit< 
de  I'imposture.  Amsterdam,  1698.  A  life  of  Mahomet.  London,  1697,  This 
work  has  been  entirely  superseded  by  more  thorough  and  less  partial  investi- 
gations. It  reflects  the  unreasoning  denunciation  of  the  prophet  current  from 
the  times  of  the  Crusades,  when  the  very  name  of  the  destroyer  of  idolatry 
in  Arabia  was  made  a  synonyme  for  an  idol.  (See  "  mammet "  in  Shake- 
speare, and  "  mawmet  "  in  Wiclif.) 

Rabbe,  Alphonse.  Compendio  de  la  Historia  de  Espafla.  Madrid,  1824.  Two 
volumes.  Among  the  books  used  by  Prescott  in  his  historical  work,  but  not 
of  great  importance. 

Ranke,  Leopold  von.  Weltgeschichte.  [Vol.  v.]  Die  Arabische  Weltherrschaft 
und  das  Reich  Karl  des  Grossen.     Leipzig,  1884. 

Rassmussen,  Janus  Lassen.  Additamenta  ad  historiam  Arabum  ante  Islamismum. 
Hafnise  (Copenhagen),  1821.  One  volume,  quarto.  This  is  an  addition  to 
the  previous  quarto  by  the  same  writer  (1817)  on  the  history  of  the  different 
Arabian  kingdoms  before  Islam. 

Reinaud,  Joseph  Toussaint.  Extraits  des  historiens  arabes,  relatifs  aux  guerres 
des  Croisades.  (New  edition.)  Paris,  1829.  The  same  writer  has  also  pub- 
lished ''  Invasion  des  Sarrasins  en  France."     Paris,  1836.     See  also  Abulfeda. 

■ Notice  sur  Mahomet.     Extrait  de  la  Nouvelle  Biographie  G^nerale,  public 

par  F.  Didot,  avec  quelques  additions.  One  volume,  octavo.  Pp.  92,  Paris,  i860 

Reiske,  Johann  Jacob.  De  Arabum  epocha  vetustissima.  Pp.  36,  quarto.  Leip- 
zig, 1748.     This  is  an  effort  to  clear  up  the  earliest  Arabian  history, 

Renan,  Joseph  Ernest.  Etudes  d'histoire  religieuse.  Paris,  1862.  Fifth  edi- 
tion, revised  and  augmented.  On  pages  217-299  there  is  a  sketch  of  Islam, 
characterized  by  the  author's  incisive  style.  Translated  by  O.  B.  Froth- 
ingham,  and  published  in  New  York,  in  1864,  with  a  biographical  sketch  of 
Renan  by  Henri  Harrisse, 

Rodwell,  John  Medows.  The  Koran  :  translated  from  the  Arabic,  the  suras 
arranged  in  chronological  order  ;  with  notes  and  index,  London,  1871.  The 
author  endorses  Noldeke's  order  of  the  later  suras,  but  he  arranges  the  earlier 
ones  differently.  He  sees  "  no  evidence  that  Mohammed  had  access  to  the 
Christian  Scriptures,"  though  fragments  may  have  reached  him.  He  thinks 
that  "  vituperative  language"  ought  not  to  be  poured  out  upon  the  prophet. 

Roebuck,  John  Arthur.  Life  of  Mahomet,  (Lives  of  eminent  persons:  Library 
of  universal  knowledge.)  London,  1833.  Roebuck  makes  good  use  of  the 
works  of  Sale,  Gibbon,  Gagnier,  Niebuhr,  Ockley,  Bayle,  Prideaux,  and 
other  authorities.  He  says  that  Gagnier  wrote  "  precisely  as  a  Mussulman 
might  have  written."     Roebuck  was  an  active  politician. 

Rosseeuw  St.-Hilaire,  Eugene  Fran9ois  Achille.  Histoire  d'Espagne  depuis  les 
premiers  temps.  Paris,  1844-1879.  Fourteen  volumes.  The  first  volume  of 
this  masterly  work  is  the  only  one  treating  the  topics  of  "  The  Story  of  the 
Saracens." 
[Riihle  von  Lilienstern,  Johann  Jakob  Otto  August.  Zur  Geschichts  der  Araber 
vor  Muhamad.     Berlin,  1836.] 

Ryer,  Andr6  du.     The   life  of   Mahomet ;    together  with  the  Alkoran  at   large ; 

translated  out  of  Arabic  into  French,  and  thence  into  English,     London,  1718. 

Sale,  George,     The  Koran  :  commonly  called  the  Alkoran  of  Mohammed.     With 

explanatory  notes  and  a  very  valuable  preliminary  discourse  on  the  entire 


LIST  OF  BOOKS.  467 

subject  of  the  Saracenic  faith  and  the  religion  and  government  of  the  people. 
Eighth  edition.  London  and  Philadelphia.  Disraeli  calls  this  (though  a 
paraphrase)  the  first  genuine  version  of  the  Koran,  but  it  is  now  superseded 
by  more  exact  translations.  It  was  published  in  1734,  and  has  been  often 
reprinted.  The  eighth  edition  contains  many  notes  and  various  readings 
from  the  French  version  by  Claude  Etienne  Savary.     (See  Wherry,  E.  M.) 

Savary,  Claude  Etienne.  Le  Coran  (with  notes  and  an  abridged  life  of  Moham- 
med). Paris,  1783.  The  following  year  the  same  author  published  a  col- 
lection of  the  best  thoughts  from  the  Koran  with  the  title  "  Morale  de 
Mahomet." 

Schuyler,  Eugene.  Turkistan.  Two  volumes.  Eighth  edition.  London  and 
•  New  York,  1876.     The  author  is  very  friendly  to  Russia. 

S6dillot,  Louis  Pierre  Eugene  Am^lie.  Histoire  des  Arabes.  Paris,  1854.  This 
is  a  comprehensive  work,  closing  with  the  expulsion  of  the  Moors  from 
Spain  (p.  331),  and  giving  a  sketch  of  Saracenic  civilization  (pp.  332-439). 
The  remainder  of  the  volume  is  occupied  with  a  sketch  of  the  present  con- 
dition of  the  race,  and  an  analytical  table  of  contents  (pp.  440-510).  There 
are  three  good  maps.  The  book  belongs  to  Victor  Duruy's  "  Histoire  Uni- 
verselle."  The  author  was  professor  of  history  in  the  Lyc6e  St.  Louis.  He 
repeats  the  error  regarding  the  "  moallakats  "  or  suspended  poems  (p.  32). 

Sell,  Edward.  The  faith  of  Islam.  London  and  Madras,  1880.  The  author  lived 
for  fifteen  years  in  India,  and  his  study  of  the  subject  is  based  upon  informa- 
tion gathered  there. 

Silvestre  de  Sacy,  Antoine  Isaac.  M6moires  sur  diverses  antiquit^s  de  la  Perse, 
et  sur  I'histoire  des  Arabes  avant  Mahomet.     Quarto.     Paris,  1793. 

Slane,  William  McGuckin,  Baron  de.  Histoire  des  Berberes  et  des  dynasties 
Musulmanes  de  I'Afrique  Septentrional.  From  the  Arabic  of  Ibn- 
Khaldun.  Algiers,  1852-1864.  Four  volumes,  octavo.  Extracts  are  given 
from  other  writers  besides  Khaldun.     A  philosophical  history. 

Ibn    Khallikan's   biographical  dictionary.     Four  volumes   (in    English). 

Paris,  1843.  Over  eight  hundred  articles.  The  author  was  an  Arabian, 
born  at  Arbela,  in  1211,  of  the  famous  family  of  the  Barmecides.  His  work 
is  a  mine  of  erudition.     Translated  by  Baron  McGuckin  de  Slane, 

[Smith,  W.  Robertson.  Kinship  and  marriage  in  early  Arabia.  Cambridge 
[England],  1885.  The  author  of  this  work  is  Lord  Almoner's  Professor  of 
Arabic  in  the  University  of  Cambridge.] 

Sprenger,  Aloys.  Das  Leben  and  die  Lehre  des  Mohammad.  Berlin,  1851-1861. 
This  original  investigator  enjoyed  the  greatest  advantages  for  his  studies. 
He  lived  among  the  Moslems  for  years,  and  wrote  other  works  on  related 
topics.  He  was  professor  at  Bonn  after  1857.  He  devotes  much  space  to  an 
examination  of  the  condition  under  which  Mohammed  received  his  "  revela- 
tions," in  connection  with  an  investigation  of  the  "  conversation  with  spirits 
and  angels  "  that  Swedenborg  professed  to  have  had,  both  of  which  he 
attributes  to  epilepsy.     A  book  of  the  first  importance. 

The  life  of  Mohammed,    from  original  sources.       One  volume,  octavo. 

Allahabad,  1851.  This  volume  did  not  finish  the  life  of  the  prophet,  and  no 
more  seems  to  have  been  published. 

Stanley,  Arthur  Penrhyn.  Lectures  on  the  Eastern  Church.  London,  1861. 
Chapter  VII.,  Mahometanism.     This  is  not  up  to  the  times. 


468 


LIST  OF  BOOKS. 


[Steiner,  Heinrich.  Die  Mu'taziliten,  oder  die  Freidenkerim  Islam.  Leipzig,  1865.] 

Stephens,  William  Richard  Wood.  Christianity  and  Islam  :  The  Bible  and  th« 
Koran.  London,  1877.  The  author  considers  Islam  the  nearest  parallel  to 
Christianity,  and  does  not  think  Mohammed  "  a  consciously  designing  and 
artful  impostor,"  but  he  argues  vigorously  against  some  of  the  positions  of 
Bosworth-Smith. 

Stobart,  James  William  Hampson.  Islam.  London,  1876.  Not  an  original  in- 
vestigation, but  brief  and  useful. 

Swedenborg,  Emanuel.  The  true  Christian  religion,  containing  the  universal 
theology'  of  the  new  church,  foretold  by  the  Lord  in  Daniel  vii.  13,  14,  and 
in  Revelation  xxi.  12.  Translated  by  Taylor  Oilman  Worcester.  One  vol., 
octavo.  Boston,  1833.  Treats  Mohammed  in  places,  especially  on  p.  539, 
where  he  and  his  followers  are  ranked  next  to  the  Christians. 

Tabari,  Abou-Jafer-Mo'hammed-ben-Djarir-ben-Yezid.  Chronicle,  translated 
by  Herman  Zotenberg.     Nogent-le-Rotrou,  1874.     Four  volumes,  octavo. 

Tassy.     See  Oarcin  de  Tassy. 

Tela,  Josephus.  The  philosophical  library  :  being  a  curious  collection  of  the 
most  rare  and  valuable  printed  books,  both  ancient  and  modern,  which  treat 
of  moral,  metaphysical,  theological,  historical,  and  philosophical  enquiries 
after  truth.  London,  1818.  Vol.  iii.,  pp.  1-92,  treats  Islam,  but  not 
thoroughly. 

Tewfik,  Hussein.  A  lecture  giving  a  few  facts  on  Mohammedanism.  Providence, 
R.  I.,  1878.  A  criticism  of  the  work  of  Edward  A.  Freeman,  who  is  chosen 
as  representative  of  those  who  desire  "  the  extermination  of  the  Turks." 

Thomson,  William  McClure.  The  land  and  the  book  :  Southern  Palestine  and 
Jerusalem  ;  Central  Palestine  ;  Lebanon,  Damascus,  and  beyond  Jordan. 
New  York,  1886.  Three  volumes,  octavo.  A  number  of  passages  illustrate 
"  The  Story  of  the  Saracens." 

Turpin,  Fran9ois  Henri.  Histoire  de  la  vie  de  Mahomet.  Three  volumes. 
Paris,  1773.  This  author  did  not  sympathize  with  the  indiscriminate  preju- 
dices current  at  his  time  regarding  Mohammed.  He  was  professor  at  the 
University  of  Caen,  where  he  was  born  in  1709.        He  died  at  Paris  in  1799. 

Upham,  Edward.  The  history  and  doctrine  of  Buddhism,  popularly  illustrated. 
One  folio  volume.     London,  1829.     Touches  Islam  in  certain  places. 

History  of  the  Ottoman   empire,  from   its  establishment  to  the  year 

1828.  Preceded  by  the  life  of  Mahomet.  London.  American  edition 
(Philadelphia,  1833)  contains  the  life  by  Roebuck,  instead  of  that  of 
Upham.    There  is  also  additional  matter. 

V4mb6ry,  Arminius.  History  of  Bokhara  from  the  earliest  period  down  to  the 
present.  London,  1873.  Eight  chapters  of  this  work  treat  topics  related 
to  "  The  Story  of  the  Saracens." 

Viardot,  Louis.  Essai  sur  Thistoire  des  Arabes  et  des  Mores  d'Espagne.  Paris, 
1833.  0°6  volume,  octavo.  Viardot  borrowed  his  facts  from  Conde,  but 
says  that  he  gave  that  author's  compilation  "  a  sort  of  control  "  [which 
it  very  much  needed],  by  comparing  it  with  the  works  of  Ferreras,  Mas- 
deu,  Hurtado  de  Mendoza,  Bleda,  and  others. 

Weber,  George.  Allgemeine  Weltgeschichte.  Fifteen  volumes,  and  three 
volumes  of  indexes.  Leipzig,  1857-1880.  Indexes,  1865-1881.  Volume 
v.,  pages  1-206,  contains  a  good  outline  of  "  The  Story  of  the  Saracens." 


LIST  OF  BOOKS.  469 

Weil,  Gustave.  Geschichte  der  Chalifen,  nach  handschriftlichen,  grSsstentheils, 
noch  unbeniitzten  Quellen  bearbeitet.  Three  volumes  with  index, 
Mannheim,  1846,  1848,  1851.  Two  volumes  additional,  with  index. 
Stuttgart,  i860,  1862.  A  continuation  of  the  author's  "  Leben  Moham- 
med's." A  work  of  the  highest  rank.  The  author  was  long  resident  in 
Mohammedan  lands. 

Geschichte  der  islamitischen  Volker,  von  Mohammed  bis  zur  Zeit  des 

Sultan  Selim.     Stuttgart,  1866. 

Historische-kritische  Einleitung  in  den  Koran.     Bielefeld,  1844. 

Das  Leben  Mohammeds.     Two  volumes,  octavo.    Stuttgart,  1864. 

Mohammed  der  Prophet,  sein  Leben  und  seine  Lehre.    Stuttgart,  1843. 

— Die  poetische  Literatur  der  Araber.     Stuttgart  und  Tubingen,  1837. 

A  historical  and  critical  sketch. 

Wherry,  E.  M.  A  comprehensive  commentary  on  the  Quran.  Five  volumes. 
[Four  published  (1886)]  London,  1882- 1886.  This  contains  Sale's  para- 
phrase and  copious  notes.  There  is  to  be  an  index,  which  promises  to  be 
valuable.     (Also  published  in  Boston.) 

White,  Joseph.  Bampton  lecture  of  1784,  and  a  sermon  on  the  duty  of  propa- 
gating the  gospel  among  the  Mahometans.  American  edition,  Boston, 
1793.  One  of  the  texts  is  i  Kings  xiii.,  18.  Gives  an  idea  of  the  views  of 
intelligent  men  regarding  Islam  at  the  date. 

Whitney,  James  Lyman.  Catalogue  of  the  Spanish  library  and  of  the  Portu- 
guese books,  bequeathed  by  George  Ticknor  to  the  Boston  Public  Li- 
brary. Boston,  1879.  The  student  of  the  history  of  the  Moors  in  Spain 
will  be  much  aided  by  the  note,  on  pages  237,  238,  in  which  Mr.  Whitney 
mentions  authorities  in  detail.  Nowhere  else  is  the  information  given 
in  so  compact  a  form,  if,  indeed,  it  is  brought  together  at  all  elsewhere. 

Wolff,  Joseph.  Researches  and  missionary  labors  among  the  Jews,  Moham- 
medans, and  other  sects.     Second  edition.     London,  1835. 

Wollaston,  Arthur  N.  Half  hours  with  Mohammed.  Being  a  popular  account 
of  the  prophet  of  Arabia  and  of  his  more  immediate  followers.  One  vol- 
ume, octavo.     With  maps  and  illustrations.     London,  1886. 

Wortabet,  John.  Researches  into  the  religions  of  Syria.  London,  i860.  Part 
n.  Mohammedanism.  A  polemical  book  by  a  missionary  in  Moham- 
medan lands. 

Wright,  Thomas.  Early  travels  in  Palestine,  comprising  the  narratives  of 
Benjamin  of  Tudela  (1164),  Sir  John  Mandeville,  and  others.  London, 
1848.  (Bohn.)  The  first  edition  of  Benjamin's  work  was  published  in 
Hebrew,  in  Constantinople  in  1543. 

Wustenfeld,  Heinrich  Ferdinand.  Das  Leben  Muhammeds.  Gottingen, 
1857-59.    Three  volumes. 

Geschichte  der  Stadt  Mekka,  und  ihres  Tempels.      Leipzig,  1857-1861. 

Four  volumes.    The  author  was  professor  in  the  University  of  Gottingen. 

Die  Geschichtschreiber  der  Araber  und  ihre  Werke.  Quarto.  Got- 
tingen, 1882. 

Unknown.     The  Arabs  in  Spain.     Two  volumes.     London,  1840. 

Unknown.  The  life  of  Mahomet  ;  or,  the  history  of  that  imposture  which  was 
begun,  carried  on,  and  finally  established  by  him  in  Arabia.  Second 
American  edition.  New  York,  1813.    Stilted  in  style  and  partial  in  spirit. 


INDEX. 


Abbas,  uncle  of  Mohammed,  ob- 
tains control  of  Zem-zem,  43  ; 
address  of,  at  the  hill  Alcaba, 
114  ;  gives  notice  of  an  attack 
from  Mecca,  154 ;  takes  the 
part  of  Mohammed,  182,  183 

Abbas  (Abul)  the  Bloody,  claims 
of,  to  the  kalifate,  348  ;  ap- 
pears in  Korassan,  350  ;  butch- 
ery of,  352  ;  efforts  to  found  a 
dynasty,  353  ;  death  of,  353 

Abbassides  (spelled  also  Abas- 
sides  and  Abbasides),  the.  Vic- 
tory of  at  Constantinople,  364  ; 
indignation  of, against  Mamun, 
380 

Abd  al  Kaba  (Abu  Bekr)  ac- 
cepts Islam,  81 

Abdalla,  birth  and  devotion  of, 
32  ;  marriage  and  death  of,  38 

Abdalla  forces  Meccans  to  hear 
the  Koran,  93 

Abdalla  opposes  Mansur,  355 

Abdalla,  son  of  Motaz,  a  rival 
kalif,  412 

Abdalla,  son  of  Zobeir,  claims 
the  kalifate,  293  ;  at  Medina, 
calls  Hosein  a  martyr,  305  ; 
loses  an  opportunity,  307  ;  the 
sole  kalif,  309  ;  death  of,  315 

Abdalla,  uncle  of  Abbas,  made 
governor  of  Syria,  354 

Abd  al  Muttalib  (properly  Abd 
al  Mutallib),  receives  the 
rights  of  Hashim,  32 ;  loses 
camels,  35 


Abd   el   Melik,    becomes   kalif, 

311  ;  shut  out  from  the  Kaaba, 

312  ;  supreme,  315  ;  refuses 
tribute  to  Constantinople,  318  ; 
death  of,  319 

Abd  er  Rahman,  governor  of 
Spain,  withdraws  from  France, 
339  ;  defeated  at  Tours,  342 

Abd  er  Rahman,  first  Omiade 
kalif  at  Cordova,  352 

Abomination  of  Desolation,  The, 
of  Daniel,  250 

Abraha,  viceroy  of  Abyssinia,  34  ; 
discomfited,  37 

Abraham  assists  Ishmael  to  re- 
build the  Kaaba,  24 

Abrahamitic  ideas  of  God,  54 

Abstinence  from  wine  first  recom- 
mended, then  commanded, 
128,  137,  161.     (See  Wine.) 

Abu  Bekr,  name  of,  99,  100 ;  ac- 
cepts Islam,  81  ;  escapes  from 
Mecca  with  Mohammed,  118  ; 
conducts  pilgrims  to  Mecca, 
198;  takes  the  place  of  Mo- 
hammed in  the  mosque,  205  ; 
address  of,  after  the  prophet's 
death,  215  ;  chosen  kalif,  216  ; 
description  of,  218  ;  forcible 
policy  of;  221  ;  death  of,  232  ; 
and  AH,  with  Mohammed  dur- 
ing the  last  pilgrimage,  203 

Abulfaraj  affirms  the  destruction 
of  the  library  at  Alexandria, 

254 

Abulfeda  mentioned,  35  ;  "  His- 
tory of  Mankind,"  420 

Abu  Lulu  assassinates  Omar,  260 


472 


INDE^. 


Abu  Sofian,  condticts  a  caravan, 
140,  147,  148  ;  at  the  battle  of 
Ohud,  154  ;  goes  against  Con- 
stantinople, 292 

Abu  Talib  (Ubu  Taleb),  blesses 
the  marriage  of  Mohammed, 
58  ;  supports  Mohammed,  76, 
77  ;  protects  Mohammed,  84, 
86,  88  ;  dies,  96 

Abyssinia,  summoned  to  accept 
Islam,  174;  the  first  emigra- 
tion to,  93 

Adam,  fall  of,  22  ;  at  Arafat,  30  ; 
and  Eve,  day  of  the  creation  of, 
302 

Adoption,  children  by,  100 

Africa,  Saracenic  conquests  in, 
267  ;  invasion  of,  under  Mo- 
awia,  291  ;  extension  of  the 
dominion  of  the  kalifs  in,  293  ; 
revolt  of,  318  ;  conquered  the 
third  time,  319  ;  Moslem  con- 
quests in,  threatened,  344  ;  es- 
cape of  from  the  Saracens, 
348  ;  trouble  in  from  the  Ber- 
bers, 359 

Afrikis  gathers  the  Amalekites, 
10 

Age,  The  golden,  of  Harun,  367  ; 
of  Mamun,  388  ;  of  Motawak- 
kel,  399 

Aglab,  father  of  Ibrahim,  at 
Kairwan,  407 

Aglabites,  The,  ravages  of,  407 

Ahmed,  prophecy  of,  134 

Ahmed,  Syed,  on  the  health  of 
Mohammed,  64  ;  on  the  use  of 
the  sword  by  Mohammed,  144 

Ahmed,  son  of  Tulun,  becomes 
governor  of  Egypt,  406 

Ajnadein  (Aiznaden)  attacked  by 
Amr,  246 

Akaba,  meeting  at  the  hill, 
100  ;  first  pledge  of,  100  ;  sec- 
ond meeting  on,  113,  115  ; 
difference  between  the  oaths 
of,  142 

Aktal,  Period  of,  320 

Alcoran,  see  Koran 

Aleppo,  conquest  of,  by  the  Sara- 


cens, 243,  taken  by  the  Tulu- 
nides,  406 

Alexander,  Battle  of,  with  Dari- 
us, on  the  Zab,  351 

Alexandria,  siege  of,  by  Amr, 
254  ;  fall  of,  254;  razed,  267  ; 
lost  by  Othman,  267 

Ali,  (Alee)  son  of  Abu  Talib,  en- 
trusted with  a  knowledge  of 
the  revelations,  81  ;  enthusias- 
tically accepts  Islam,  and  is 
called  kalif,  83  ;  left  behind 
at  Mecca,  117,  118  ;  reaches 
Yathrib,  126  ;  marries  Fatima, 

161  ;    suspicious    of    Ayesha, 

162  ;  commands  against  the 
Jews  of  Keibar,  175  ;  detects 
Sara  in  sending  illicit  informa- 
tion, 182  ;  reads  a  notable 
proclamation  at  Mecca,  199  ; 
with  Mohammed  during  his 
last  pilgrimage,  203  ;  claims 
of,  upon  the  ofiice  of  kalif,  219, 
220  ;  action  of,  after  the  death 
of  Fatima,  225  ;  kalifate  of- 
fered to,  264  ;  reasons  with 
rebels,  270  ;  made  kalif,  273  ; 
appeals  to  Kufa,  276;  victorious 
over  Ayesha,  Talha,  and  Zo- 
beir,  278  ;  weakened  at  Siffin, 
281  ;  assassinated,  285  ;  career 
of,  286 

Ali  ben  Musa,  promised  the 
throne  of  Mamun,  380  ;  sacri- 
fices himself,  381 

Al  Kindy,  The  apology  of,  389 

Allah,  character  of,  19  ;  the 
house  of,  22  ;  the  worship  of 
one  supreme,  54 ;  unity  of, 
201  ;  as  presented  by  Mo- 
hammed, 211 

Allies  of  the  kalifs  become  an- 
tagonists, 424 

Alp  Arslan  (Seljuk)  buried  at 
Merv,  256 

Alyites,  the,  disturb  Korassan, 
348;  rise  at  Medina  in  the 
time  of  Mansur,  359  ;  rising 
of,  in  time  of  Hedi,  365  ;  rise 
of,  in  Africa  in  time  of  Harun, 


INDEX. 


473 


370  ;  rise  of,  under  Mamun, 
378,  379,  382  ;  favored  by 
Wathek,  395  ;  get  no  sympathy 
from  Motawakkel,  398  ;  en- 
couraged by  Montaser,  399  ; 
rise  of,  in  time  of  Mostain, 
401  ;  smiled  upon  by  Motaded, 
407  ;  number  of,  in  Islam,  407 

Ameer,  Seyed  Ali,  on  the  use  of 
the  sword  by  Mohammed,  144  ; 
on  Motazilites,  282 

Amin,  destined  by  Harun  as  his 
successor,  373  ;  surrenders  to 
Tahir  and  Mamun,  377 

Amina,  (pronounced  Ah'-mi-na), 
mother  of  Mohammed,  left  a 
widow,  39  ;  dies  at  Medina, 
42  ;  Mohammed  at  the  tomb 
of,  190  ;  sorrow  of  Mohammed 
for,    208 

Amissus    attacked,  400 

Amorium  sacked  by  the  Sara- 
cens, 392 

Amr  and  Kalid  converted,  177 

Amr  (Amru  ben  el  Ass)  takes  the 
field  against  the  Bedawins,  18 1  ; 
commissioned  to  conquer  Fili- 
stin,  246  ;  takes  Caesarea,  252  ; 
sets  out  for  the  conquest  of 
Egypt,  253  ;  treats  the  Egyp- 
tians to  an  object-lesson,  255  ; 
retakes  Alexandria,  267  ;  takes 
the  part  of  Moawia,  279  ; 
takes  possession  of  Egypt,  282 

Amr,  cousin  of  Abd  el  Melik, 
revolts  against  him  and  is 
slain,  313 

Amr,  successor  of  Yakub,  the 
Soffaride,  acknowledged  by 
Motamed,  405  ;  attacks  Is- 
mail Samana,  408,  409  ;  mis- 
chance of,  409 

Anarchy,  in  Bagdad,  time  of  Ma- 
mun, 379  ;  at  Samarra,  401  ;  in 
Bagdad,  in  time  of  Radi,  428 

Angels,  belief  in,  15,  62  ;  nature 
of,  16,  17  ;  aid  of,  at  Honein 
188 

Ansars,  the  new  converts  at 
Yathrib,      127  ;     brotherhood 


formed    with    the    Muajerin, 
142 

Antichrist,  Arabian  belief  re- 
garding, 197 

Antioch,  siege  and  conquest  of, 
by  the  Saracens,  243  ;  taken 
by  the  Tulunides,  406 

Aquitania,  Saracens  enter,  338 

Arab  tongue.  The,  not  to  be  used 
by  Christians,  250 

Arabia,  position  of,  i  ;  shape  of,^ 
6  ;  becomes  acquainted  with 
Persia,  60  ;  decline  of  import- 
ance of,  under  the  Omiades, 
288  ;  aroused  by  the  acts  of 
the  Karmathians,  412 

Arabia  Petrsea  offered  to  Ziyad, 
290 

Arabs,  imaginative,  14  ;  marvel- 
lous change  in  the,  135  ;  style 
of  warfare  of,  164 

Arafat,  the  mountain  of  mercy, 
30 

Archangels,  The  four,  17 

Architecture,  The  Saracenic,  322 

Aristocracy,  The,  of  Arabia,  as 
established  by  Omar,  245 

Arkam,  The  house  of,  85 

Armenia,  war  in,  338  ;  disturb- 
ances in,  at  the  time  of  Hish- 
am,  345  ;  rising  in,  in  time  of 
Motawakkel,  398  ;  and  Irak 
desolated  by  Babek,  391 

Arnold,  Matthew  on  the  "  Per- 
sian Passion-Play,"  304 

Arts  and  letters  cultivated  by 
Harun,  370.      (See  Letters.) 

Asceticism  not  delighted  in  by 
Mohammed,  153 

Ashes,  Year  of,  252 

Ashmaat,  Appeal  of  Mohammed 
to  the,  54 

Ass  of  Irak,  The,  a  title  of  Mer- 
wan  II.,  349 

Assassination,  Policy  of,  152 

Assassination  of  Othman,  271 

Assassins,  The,  described  by 
Benjamin  of  Tudela,  433 

Astronomy  studied  in  lime  of 
Mamun,  388 


474 


INDEX. 


Aswad,  a  rival  of  Mohammed  in 
Yemen,  203 

Asylum  for  the  insane  at  Bag- 
dad, 438 

Ayesha,  daughter  of  Abu  Bekr, 
espoused  by  Mohammed,  99  ; 
formal  marriage  of  Mohammed 
and,  140  ;  home  life  of,  141  ; 
jealous  of  Zeinab,  161  ;  scan- 
dal    about,       162  ;      patience 

,  recommeded  to,  164  ;  talk  of 
Mohammed  with,  214  ;  place 
of  burial  of,  217  ;  allies  herself 
with  All's  enemies,  274  ;  super- 
stitions of,  overcome  by  deceit, 
275  ;  vindictive  spirit  of,against 
Ali,  277  ;  curses  Amr  and  Mo- 
awia,  284 

Ayub  (Aiyoob,  Ayyub),  father  of 
Saladin,  434 

Azazil,  or  Iblis,  16 

Azerbaijan  (Aderbaijan),  battle 
with  Babek  at,  391 


B 


Baalbek  (Heliopolis),  conquest 
of,  243 

Babek,  the  sect  of,  391 

Babylon,  site  of,  227 

Bagdad,  founding  of,  357  ;  the, 
of  romance,  366  ;  magnificence 
of,  under  Harun,  368  ;  anarchy 
in,  in  time  of  Mamun,  379  ;  in 
confusion  in  time  of  Mok- 
tader,  421  ;  description  of, 
438  ;  fall  of,  441 

Balkis,  queen  of  Sheba,  visits 
Solomon,  10 

Ban,  The,  placed  upon  Moham- 
med, 94 

Barmecides,  The,  come  to  Bag- 
dad, 358  ;  character  of,  368  ; 
fall  of,  371 

Barthelemy  St.  Hilaire  on  Islam, 
136 

Bassora,  founded,  238;  plague  at, 
253  ;  taken  by  Ayesha  and  her 
partisans,  275  ;  taken  by  Mo- 
awia,  284  ;  battle  near,  338  ; 


and  Kufa,  troubles  at,  260, 
266,  267,  268 

Baudier  mentioned,  434 

Bedawins  {badu,  a  desert),  the 
free,62;  join  forces  with  Mecca 
against  Medina,  154  ;  stirred 
up  against  the  Jews,  174  ;  ac- 
cept Islam,  181  ;  conspire 
against  Mohammed,  186  ;  be- 
come uneasy  under  Moham- 
med's rule,  203  ;  allegiance  of 
the,  227 

Bedr,  victory  of  Mohammed  at, 
149 

Believers  encouraged  and  un- 
believers threatened,  113 

Benjamin  of  Tudela  gives  an  ac- 
count of  the  Assassins,  433 

Berbers,  The,  10  ;  reduced  to 
terms,  318  ;  incorporated  in 
the  Saracenic  army,  319  ;  as 
described  by  Musa,  335  ;  give 
trouble,  359 

Beshr  questioned  about  the  na- 
ture of  the  Koran,  385 

Bible,  Doctrines  of  the,  present- 
ed to  the  Arabians,  136 

Bilal,  the  first  muezzin,  death  of, 

253 

Blind  man.  The  poor,  repulsed 
by  Mohammed,  86 

Blood,  price  of,  33  ;  first  drawn 
in  Islam,  84 

Blood-vengeance  prohibited,  202 

Bokhara,  science  at,  256  ;  con- 
quered by  Obeidolla,  291 ; 
conquest  of ,  322  ;  capital  of 
Ismail  Samana  at,  408  ;  Sel- 
juks  in,  432  ;  taken  l3y  Jengis 
Khan,  440 

Books,  none  in  Arabia,  2,  60  ; 
effect  of  the  absence  of,  46,  47; 
did  not  teach  Mohammed,  60 

Borak  (lightning),  the  beast  that 
takes  Mohammed  to  heaven, 
104 

Bostra,  visited  by  Mohammed, 
46  ;  envoy  of  Mohammed  sent 
to,  178  ;  description  of,  by 
Ockley,  231 


INDEX. 


475 


Boulainvilliers,     Count    de,     on 

Islam,  137 
Boweib,  battle  of,  235 
Bozra,  see  Bostra 
Bridge  of  Boats,  Battle  of  the, 

234 

Brothediood,  A,  established  at 
Medina,  141,  142 

Buran,  daughter  of  Hasan,  be- 
comes wife  of  Mamun,  383 

Burial  of  Mohammed,  217 

Buvides  (Dilemites),  rise  of  the, 
426  ;  supreme  at  Bagdad,  428  ; 
end  of  the,  430 

Byzantium,  listlessness  of,  241 


Cabus,  see  Kabus. 

Csesarea  taken  by  Amr,  252 

Cairo  (Fostat),  foundation  of, 
254  ;  mosque  erected  at,  321  ; 
built  by  the  Fatimites,  430 

Caliph,  see  Kalif. 

Camel,  Day  of  the,  277 

Capital  of  Islam,  Removal  of  the, 
288 

Cappadocia,  conquest  of,  322  ; 
war  in,  392 

Captives,  Dissatisfaction  regard- 
ing, i8g 

Caravans,  The,  from  Mecca 
tempt  the  prophet,  144 

Carcasonne   and  Nismes  taken, 

339 
Carlyle,  Professor  J.  D.,   trans- 
lations by,  427,  428 
Carlyle,  Thomas,  on  the  Hanifs, 
52  ;  on  the  character  of  Mo- 
hammed, 65,  66 
Carthage  reduced  by  Hasan,  318 
Caspian    region    penetrated    by 

Othman's  troops,  267 
Casuistry  necessary  in  Islam,  424 
Caussin  de  Perceval,  on  the  date 
of  Mohammed's  birth,  39  ;  on 
the  offer  of  Islam  to  the  Ko- 
reishites,  82  ;  on  the  date  of 
the  Hejra,  121  ;  treats  the  siege 
of  Bostra  as  a  fact,  231  ;  on 
th^  era  of  the  Hejra,   260 


Cave,  Mohammed  in  the,  113, 
122 

Ceuta,  Saracens  repulsed  at,  324; 
given  up,  326 

Chadijah,  see  Kadija. 

Chains,  Battle  of  the,  228 

Chaldea  and  Babylonia,  226 

Chance,  Games  of,  forbidden, 
128,  i6r 

Charlemagne,  Defeat  of,  at  Ron- 
cesveaux,  353 

Charles  Martel  appealed  to  by 
Count  Eudes,  340 

Charms,  the  last  two  suras,  167 

Children  by  adoption,  160 

China  invaded  by  Jengis  Khan, 
440 

Chosroes  (Khosru,  son  of  Ko- 
bad),  wars  with  Maurice,  3  ; 
summoned  to  accept  Islam, 
173  ;  palace  of,  at  Medain, 
plan  of  Mansur  to  pillage,  358 

Christianity,  introduction  of,  27  ; 
represented  by  the  Western 
empire,  62  ;  and  Judaism,  62  ; 
Mohammed's  views  of,  129  ; 
and  Islam  compared,  135,  136  ; 
opposition  of  Mohammed  to, 
197  ;  the  tritheistic,  of  Arabia, 
213  ;  in  Europe  threatened  by 
the  Saracens,  336  ;  the  argu- 
ment of  Al  Kindy  for,  389 

Christians,  relation  of  Moham- 
med to,  134,  135  ;  confer  with 
Mohammed,  192  ;  severe  treat- 
ment of,  at  Jerusalem,  249  ;  of 
Spain  as  described  by  Musa, 
335  ;  treatment  of,  in  Spain  by 
the  Saracens,  336  ;  and  Jews 
persecuted  by  Motawakkel,398 

Chronology  of  the  suras,  133,443 

Civilization,  in  the  Mesopotamian 
region,  239  ;  in  Europe  threat- 
ened by  the  Saracens,  336 

Cloak,  The,  of  Mohammed  not 
honored,  422 

Clubs  for  debate  in  time  of  Ma- 
mun, 385 

Coinage,  The  first,  of  the  Sara- 
cens, 318 


4/6 


INDEX. 


Colossus,  of  Rhodes,  Doubtful 
tradition  regarding,  278 

Commerce  in  early  times,  8  ;  by 
land,  decline  of,  25,  28 

Companions  of  Mohammed,  The 
preserve  the  koran,  224 

Constantine  VII.  invades  Asia 
Minor,  416 

Constantinople,  first  attempt  of 
the  Saracens  upon,  291  ;  effort 
of  Soliman  against,  336  ;  re- 
treat of  Hisham  from,  345  ; 
campaign  of  Mehdi  against, 
363  ;  saved  from  capture,  in 
time  of  Harun,  373  ;  war  of 
Mamun  with,  386  ;  sends  an 
embassy  to  Moktader,  416 

Coptic  maid  Mary,  wife  of  Mo- 
hammed, 190 

Cordova,  and  other  cities  of  Spain 
ravaged,  330  ;  beginning  of  the 
Omiade  kalifate  at,  352 

Creasy,  Sir  E.,  describes  the  bat- 
tle of  Tours,  344 

Crusades,  Origin  of  the,  433 

"  Cry,  in  the  name  of  Allah,"  74 

Ctesiphon  and  Selucia,  227 

Cursing,  The  ordeal  of  the,  193 

Cyprus,  attacked  and  made  tribu- 
tary, 268  ;  Moawia,  governor 
of,  278 


Damascus,  a  move  upon,  239  ; 
taken,  240  ;  pomp  of  Moawia 
at,  308  ;  Christians  at,  dispos- 
sessed of  their  church,  321  ; 
the  great  mosque  at,  322  ;  a 
revolt  in,  against  Merwan  II., 
349  ;  rival  kalif  at,  in  time  of 
Mamun,  376  ;  becomes  capital 
of  Tahir,  378  ;  and  other  cities 
taken  by  the  Tulunides,  406 

Damiani's   picture    of   paradise, 

131 
Damietta  pillaged,  398 
Daniel,  Tomb  of,  preserved,  2?6 
Darmsteter,   James,    "  Le  Mah- 

di,"  414 


Day,  of  Tears,   the,  275  ;  of  the 

Camel,  the,  277 
Dead   Sea,  Mohammed  journeys 

by  the,  46 
Debating  clubs  in   time  of  Ma- 
mun, 385 
Debaucheries  of  Montaser,  400 
Decrees  of  Allah,  The,  71,  72 
Deputations,  The  year  of,  192 
Desvergers  on  the  offer  of  Islam 

to  the  Koreishites,  32 
Deutsch,  Emanuel,  on  Arabian 
religion,  14 ;  on  the  date  of 
Mohammed's  birth,  39  ;  on  the 
meaning  of  Islam,  66  ;  on  the 
word  "  cry,"  74  ;  and  Miiller 
on  the  prize  poems  of  Okatz, 
43  ;  and  Renan  on  the  Hanifs, 
52,  54 
Dilemites  (see  Buvides),  Rise  of 

the,  426 
Diodorus  speaks  of   the    sacred 

stone,  22 
Disaffected,  The,  at  Yathrib,  127 
Discontent  in  Arabia    after   the 

death  of  Mohammed,  220 
Dissatisfaction   in    the   kalifate, 

272 
Ditch,  Battle  of  the,  164 
Diwan,    a,  organized  by  Omar, 

245 

Domestic  life,  Regulations  re- 
garding, 161 

Dorylseum,  Unsuccessful  attack 
upon,  363 

Dream,  An  opportune,  189 

Dreams  and  visions  in  ancient 
and  modern  times,  102 

Dugat,  Gustave,  on  Islamite 
philosophy,  385 

Dwellings,  Privacy  of,  162 


Earnestness  of  Mohammed,  65 

Eclipses  ordered  by  Allah,  192 

Efreet,  The,  10 

Egypt,  summoned  to  accept  Is- 
lam, 174  ;  land  communication 
with,  established,  254 ;  favors 


INDEX. 


A77 


Ali,  272,  273;  rising  in,  against 

Ali,   282  ;  continuation  of  the 

kalifate  in,  441 
Elephant,  Host  of  the,  36 
Elephants  used  by  the  Persians 

at  Kadesia,  236 
Elihu,  the  Buzite,  on  dreams,  102 
Eliphaz,      the      Temanite,      on 

dreams,  102 
Emigrations   to  Abyssinia,  The, 

93 

Enchantments,  Faith  in,  166 

Enquiry,  The  spirit  of  religious, 
before  Mohammed,   50,  51,  63 

Enthusiasm,  The,  of  Moham- 
med, 64 

Epilepsy,  The,  of  Mohammed, 
205 

Era,  the  Islamite,  120 ;  estab- 
lished by  Omar,  121,  260  ;  dif- 
ficulty of  establishing  an,  120  ; 

"  Eternal  Reason,  The,"  a  book 
from  Kabul,  384 

Eudes,  Count,  meets  the  Sara- 
cens, 339,  340 

Europe,  overrun  by  hordes  from 
Asia,  4  ;  plan  of  the  Saracens 
regarding,  332 


Faber,   Heavenly    homesickness 

of,  131 
Faction,  Growth  of,  under  Oth- 

man,  269 
Fadhl,  son  of  Sahl,  minister  un- 
der Mamun,  370,  378  ;  politi- 
cal acts  of,  exposed  to  Mamun, 
381  ;  assassination  of,  382 
Faith,   the,    of    Mohammed,   76, 
78,  80  ;   the  implicit,  of  Islam 
undermined,   385  ;    an    unau- 
thorized article  of,  396 
Faithful,  Picture  of  the,  by  Mo- 
hammed, 135 
Fall,  The,  of  the  empire,  4 
False  prophets  rise,  203,  204 
Families,  The  rival,  in  Islam,  164 
Family  of  the  Tent,  the,  303 
Farazdah,  Period  of,  320 


Fatima  and    Ali   married,    161 ; 

death  of,  225 
Fatimites,  dynasty  of,  in  Egypt, 

312  ;  rise  in  Africa,  413  ;  end 

of  dynasty  of,  436 
Ferdusi,  the  poet  of  Persia,  431 
Feticism,    of   the    Arabians,    15, 

62  ;  and  paganism,  62 
Fihl,     movement    against,    240 ; 

fall  of,  241 
Plhr,  surnamed  Koreish,  30 
Filistin,  or  Palestine,   Limits  of, 

246 
Firdah,  Battle  of,  229 
Fire-worship  in  Persia.  62 
Foreigners,  Influence  of,  390 
Forty  Martyrs,   Church    of    the, 

387 
Fostat    (Cairo),    Foundation    of, 

254 
France,  The  Saracens  enter,  338, 

339 
Franks,    The,    as   described    by 

Musa,  335 
Freedom,  The,  of  the  Arabians, 

43 

Freeman,  E.  A.,  on  the  date  of 
Mohammed's  birth,  39  ;  on 
Arabian  freedom  44  ;  on  the 
condition  of  the  East,  62  ;  on 
the  war  between  Rome  and 
Persia,  179  ;  on  the  opposition 
of  Mohammed  to  Christianity, 
197  ;  on  Mohammed's  antago- 
nism to  truth,  212  ;  on  Mo- 
hammed's righteous  intentions, 
214  ;  on  the  repulse  of  the  Sar- 
acens by  Leo  III.,  336 

Freethinkers  opposed  by  Mota- 
wakkel,  396 

Free-will  discussed  by  Wasil, 
282 

G 

Gabriel  gives  directions  about  the 
Kaaba,  24  ;  speaks  to  Moham- 
med, 72  ;  frequent  revelations 
from,  80 ;  escorts  Mohammed 
in  a  dream,  104  ;  informs  Mo- 
hammed of  a  plot  of  the  Ko- 


478 


INDEX. 


reishites,    117  ;    gives    aid    at 
Bedr,  149  ;  rescues  Mohammed 
from  enchantment,  167 
Gadara,  City  of,  242 
Games  of  chance  forbidden,  161 
Gaming,  rebuked    by    Othman, 
268  ;    denounced   by  Motadi, 
402  ;  and  wine-drinking,  63 
Garden  of  Death,  Battle  of,  223 
Gayangos,  Translation  of    Mak- 

kari  by,   335 
Gaza   visited    by    Abdalla,    38  ; 
Joppa    and    other    cities  cap- 
tured, 246 
Gaznivide  dynasty.  The,  430 
Gaznivides,    The,   overcome    by 

the  Seljuks,  433 
George    Eliot,    Aspirations     of, 

131,  132 

Ghassan,  Ruler  of  the  tribe  of, 
179 

Gibbon,  Edward,  on  the  strife 
between  Rome  and  Persia,  3  ; 
on  Heraclius  and  Chosroes,  4  ; 
"  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Ro- 
man Empire,"  332  ;  describes 
the  battle  of  Tours,  344  ;  de- 
scribes the  iron  gates  of  Ko- 
bad,  345 

Gluttony  of  Omar  II.,  338 

God,  the  idea  of  only  one,  75  ; 
Mohammed's  idea  of,  213 

Gospel,   First  preaching  of  the, 

135 
Government  in  Arabia,  33 
Governors,  The,  of  Othman,  un- 
popular, 269  ;  in  France,  char- 
acter of,  340 
Goths,  The,  invade  Spain,  325 
Greek  fire  used  against  the  Mos- 
lems, 292,  336 
Greek   learning   introduced    ex- 
tensively by  Mamun,  388 

H 

Hafsa,    widow    of    Mohammed, 

custodian  of  the  koran,  224 
Hagarin  Arabia,  24,  28 
Haj,  The  title,  31 
Halima  (pronounced  Hah'-lima) 


becomes  nurse  of  Mohammed, 
41  ;  remembered  by  Moham- 
med at  his  marriage,  58 

Hamdan,  surnamed  Karmaih, 
Sect  of,  408 

Hanifs,  Speculations  of  the,  50, 
52,  63 

Hartama  overcomes  the  Alyites, 
and   is    executed   by  Mamun, 

379 

Harun  al  Rashid  (Haroun  al  Ra- 
schid),  at  the  grave  of  Mansur, 
360  ;  receives  his  first  lesson 
in  war,  363  ;  intended  to  be 
heir-apparent,  364  ;  in  fiction 
and  real  hfe,  367  ;  sets  out  for 
Constantinople,  371  ;  ortho- 
doxy of,  372  ;  sets  out  for  Ko- 
rassan,  373  ;  death  of,  373  '; 
plan  of,  to  keep  the  balance  be- 
tween Persian  and  Arab  influ- 
ence, 375 

Hasan  (Hassan),  son  of  Ali,  leads 
the  Kufans  to  take  All's  part, 
276  ;  kalif,  287 

Hasan,  a  general  of  Yezid,  308  ; 
goes  to  Africa,  318 

Hasan,  governor  of  Persia,  and 
his  daughter  Buran,  382,  383 

Hashim,  the  kalif,  see  Hisham. 

Hashim  receives  the  rights  of 
Kossai  from  Abd  Menaf,  32 

Hashimeya,  residence  of  Mansur, 
356 

Hashimites,  The,  264 

Hashishim,  chief  of  the  Assas- 
sins, 433 

Hate  aroused  at  Mecca,  150 

Heart,  the,  of  Mohammed  puri- 
fied by  Gabriel,  42 

Heaven,  seventh,  dream  of,  104 

Hedi,  death  of,  365 

Hejaj  offers  his  services  to  Abd 
el  Melik,  314  ;  made  governor 
of  Irak,  316 

Hejaz,  land  of  pilgrimages,  7, 
2S  ;  becomes  the  scene  of  ac- 
tion, 298  ;  decline  of  import- 
ance of,  under  the  Omiades, 
288 


tNlDEX, 


479 


Hejra  (or  Hegira),  the,  ordered, 
ii6  ;  era  of,  established,  121, 
260  ;  date  of  the,  121 

Hell,  Seven-fold  divisions  of,  20 

Hems,  see  Horns. 

Hera,  the  mountain  near  Mecca, 
63 

Heraclea,  taken  and  retaken  by 
Harun,  371  ;  Mamun  at,  387 

Heraclius,  emperor  of  the  East- 
ern Empire,  summoned  to  ac- 
cept Islam,  174  ;  said  to  have 
led  an  army  against  the  Mos- 
lems, 179  ;  determines  to  re- 
pel the  Arabs,  230  ;  at  Horns, 

243  ;   flees   to  Constantinople, 

244  ;  death  of,  254 
Hercules,  Saracens  at  the  Pillars 

of,  324 
Heresies  from  Persia  in  reign  of 

Mehdi,  365 
Heretics,  Troubles  of  Hedi  with, 

365 

Hesham,  see  Hisham. 

Himyarites  (Homerites),  the  dy- 
nasty of,  27 

Hind,  the  Tearless  One,  wife  of 
Abu  Sofian,  leads  women 
against  Medina,  154 ;  anger 
and  grief  of,  150 

Hira  (Meshed  Ali),  capital  of 
Irak,  60  ;  site  of,  228  ;  taken 
by  Kalid,  229  ;  retaken,  235  ; 
Moslems  obliged  to  retire  from, 

234 

Hisham  (Hashim  or  Hesham) 
becomes  kalif,  339  ;  death  of, 
346  ;  beginning  of  the  Motaz- 
ilites  in  reign  of,  282 

Hamza  converted,  89,  90 

Homogeneity  impossible  to  di- 
verse Islamites,  424 

Homs  (Hems),  ancient  Emesa, 
246  ;  advance  upon,  242  ;  re- 
volt at,  348  ;  bloody  scenes  at, 
400  ;  taken  by  Ahmed,  406 

Honein,  victory  at,  187  ;  captives 
at,  released,  189 

Honesty,  The,  of  Mohammed, 
210 


Hosein  (Husain),  son  of  Ali,  goes 
against  Constantinople,  292  ; 
refuses  to  take  the  oath  of  al- 
legiance to  Yezid,  296  ;  claims 
the  office  of  kalif,  296  ;  at  Ker- 
bala,  301  ;  death  of,  303  ;  im- 
portance of  the  death  of,  308  ; 
tomb  of,  desecrated  by  Mota- 
wakkel,  398  ;  tomb  of,  rebuilt 
by  Montaser,  399 

Hulaku  (Hoolakoo),  grandson  of 
Jengis  Khan,  overthrows  the 
Assassins  and  takes  Bagdad, 
441 

Husbands  and  wives,  rules  affect- 
ing, 162  ;  mutual  duties  of, 
202 


Iblis,  rebellion  of,  16  ;  believed 
to  have  aided  the  Koreishites 
at  Bedr,  151 

Ibrahim,  son  of  Mohammed, 
birth  of,  190  ;  death  of,  192 

Ibrahim,  Accession  and  death  of, 
348 

Ibrahim  heads  a  rising  at  Merv, 
350 

Ibrahim,    brother  of  Harun,  368 

Ibrahim,  son  of  Mehdi,  made  ka- 
lif in  the  place  of  Mamun,  380 

Ibrahim,  son  of  Aglab,  at  Kair- 
wan,  407 

Idolaters,  not  to  be  prayed  for, 
190  ;  to  be  killed,  199 

Idolatry,  to  be  abolished,  75  ; 
boldly  opposed  by  Mohammed, 
83  ;  stubbornness  of,  at  Taif, 
194  ;  disappearing,  198 

Idols,  talk  about  the  worship  of, 
46  ;  destroyed,  184 

Ignorance,  The  times  of,  24 

Ihram,  the  pilgrim-dress,  31 

Imams,  the  twelve,  266 

India,  excitement  in,  during  Mo- 
harrem,  304 

Intrigues  of  the  Abbassides,  349 

Irak,  expedition  to,  60  ;  and 
Mesopotamia,    allegiance    of, 


480 


IJSTD^X. 


62  ;  of  the  Arabs  and  Irak  of 
the  Persians,  226 

Ireland  on  the  former  notions  re- 
garding Mohammed,  210 

Irene  becomes  ruler  at  Constan- 
tinople, 363 

Isa,  son  of  Mansur,  nickname  of, 
360 

Ishmael  rebuilds  the  Kaaba,  24 

Islam,  professed  in  secrecy,  32  ; 
the  house  of,  at  Mecca,  35  ;  in- 
terpretations of  the  word,  66, 
80  ;  not  looked  upon  as  a  new 
religion,  81  ;  preached  every- 
where by  pilgrims,  88  ;  debt  of 
to  Kadi j  a,  96  ;  successfully 
preached  at  Yathrib,  113;  origi- 
nality of,  129  ;  original  doc- 
trines of,  130  ;  duties  of,  135  ; 
offered  to  the  nations,  173  ; 
submission  of  many  tribes  to, 
194  ;  progress  of,  198  ;  per- 
fected, 201  ;  policy  of,  after 
the  death  of  Mohammed,  217  ; 
indivisible,  221  ;  not  to  be 
shaken  off,  225  ;  the  great 
schism  in,  308  ;  a  stroke  at 
its  foundation  by  Mamun, 
384  ;  and  its  prophet,  assailed 
by  Al  Kindy,  389;  "per- 
fected "  by  Mohammed,  396  ; 
unexpected  growth  of,  423 

Ismailians,  The,  under  Babek, 
391,  408 

Isaphan  mentioned,  256 

Issa,  see  Jesus. 


Jaafar,  the  Barmecide,  comes  to 
Mansur's  court,  358  ;  governs 
Syria,  368 

Jacob,  Dream  of,  22 

Janizaries,  The,  similar  to  the 
princes  of  princes,  429 

Jealousy,  forbidden  to  women, 
162  ;  of  the  prophet's  wives 
for  Mary  the  Copt,  190,  192 

Jebilee,  Visit  of  Benjamin  to, 
433 


Jengis  Khan,  Rise  of,  in  Tartary, 

440 
Jerir  (Djerir  or  Dzherir),  Period 

of,  320 
Jerusalem  Mohammed's  dream- 
visit  to,  106  ;  the  original 
kibla  of  Mohammed,  13,  139  ; 
beseiged,  246;  capitulates,  248; 
made  a  resort  for  pilgrims,  312; 
mosque  at,  321 ;  visited  by 
Mansur,  356  ;  captured  by  the 
Seljuks,  433 

Jesus,  as  viewed  by  Mohammed, 
193,  212 

Jews,  connection  with  Arabia, 
6  ;  relations  of  Mohammed 
with,  at  Yathrib,  127  ;  relation 
of  Mohammed  with,  134,  135; 
refuse  Islam,  152  ;  importance 
of  breaking  down  their  power, 
159  ;  difficult  to  suppress,  165  ; 
enchantments  practised  by, 
166  ;  of  Keibar  attacked,  174  ; 
banished  from  their  homes  by 
Omar,  245 ;  and  Christians  per- 
secuted by  Motawakkel,  398 

Jinns,  creation  of,  15  ;  belief  in, 
15,  62  ;  evil  doings  of,  19  ; 
listen  to  Mohammed,  98 

Job,  dreams  in  the  book  of,  102 

Joppa,  Gaza,  and  other  places 
captured,  246 

Jordan  (Ordonna),  Province  of, 
246 

Judaism,  Mohammed's  light 
from,  211 

Julian,  Count,  commander  of 
Ceuta,  325  ;  urges  the  Sara- 
cens to  conquest,  329 

Julkarnein,  the   two-horned,  294 

Jurists  examined  regarding  the 
nature  of  the  Koran,  385 

Justinian  urged  to  interfere  in 
Arabia,  27 


K 


Kaaba,  the,  descnbed,  24;  threat- 
ened by  Abraha,  36  ;  fire  in 
the,   66  ;    the  strength  of    the 


INDEX. 


481 


worship  of,  79  ;  idols  in,  de- 
stroyed, 184  ;  enlarged  by 
Omar,  258  ;  enlarged  by  Oth- 
man,  268  ;  made  a  heap  of 
ruins  by  Yezid's  troops,  307  ; 
partial  destruction  of,  315  ; 
covering  of,  enriched  by 
Mehdi,   361 

Kabus  (Cabus,  Caboos)  begins 
the  line  of  the  Dilemites,  426 

Kadija  (Chadijah,  Khadijah, 
Ger.  C/iadidsckd),  engages  Mo- 
hammed as  director  of  cara- 
vans, 55;  account  of,  56;  seeks 
Mohammed  in  marriage,  57  ; 
enquires  the  causes  of  Moham- 
med's accesses,  64  ;  comforts 
Mohammed,  72,  95  ;  dies,  96  ; 
Mohammed's  pure  love  for, 
133  ;  and  Waraka  the  first 
converts,   80 

Kadar,  Al,  the  blessed  night,  71, 
214 

Kadesia,  Battle  of,  235,  236 

Kaf,  Mountain  of,  15 

Kaher  placed  on  the  throne,  de- 
posed, and  replaced,  421,  425 

Kahina,  queen  of  the  Berbers, 
captured  and  beheaded,  318 

Kairwan,  Foundation  of,  294  ; 
Aglabites  at,  407 

Kalid  retreats  from  Muta,  180  ; 
sent  out  by  Abu  Bekr,  222  ; 
effectual  M^ork  of,  224  ;  meets 
the  Persians,  228  ;  makes  a 
pilgrimage  to  Mecca,  230  ;  de- 
prived of  command,  232  ; 
Omar's  alienation  from,  252  ; 
death  of,  252  ;  and  Amr  con- 
verted, 177 

Kalid,  the  Barmecide,  becomes 
vizier  to  Mansur,  358  ;  ensures 
the  succession  to  Harun,  365 

Kalif  (Caliph,  Calif),  the  title 
given  to  Ali,  83  ;  choice  of  the 
first,  215,  216  ;  mode  of  choos- 
ing, 263,  264  ;  a  puppet,  399, 
427,  428  ;  grandeur  of  the 
state  of,  in  its  decline,  437 

Kalifate,   increase  of  the,  288  ; 


changes  in  the,  297  ;  greatness 
of,  under  Harun,  368  ;  causes 
of,  its  downfall,  423  ;  dismem- 
berment of,  407,  428  ;  end  of 
the,  441 

Kalifs,  incapacity  of  the  later, 
424  ;  deaths  of  the  early,  2^2  ; 
changes  in  the  character  of, 
308  ;  luxury  of  the  later,  424  ; 
in  their  decline,  described, 
436 

Karejites,  traits  of,  281  ;  put 
down  by  Ziyad,  290  ;  zealots 
of,  discuss  the  state  of  affairs, 
285  ;  devastate  Irak,  310  ;  stir 
up  rebellion  against  Abd  el 
Melik,  317  ;  rise  in  time  of 
Harun,  370 

Kariba,  Battle  near,  277 

Karmath,  deemed  similar  to  the 
chief  of  the  Assassins,  433 

Karmathians,  rise  of  the,  408  ; 
attack  the  Meccan  caravans, 
411,  412  ;  ravage  Syria  in  time 
of  Moktader,  420 ;  ravages  of, 
in  time  of  Radi,  428 

Kazars,  The,  come  from  beyond 
the  Caucasus,  345  ;  second  in- 
vasion of,  346 

Keibar,  War  with  the  Jews  of, 

174,  175 

Kerbala,  representations  of  the 
beauty  of,  300 ;  arrival  of 
Hosein  at,  301  ;  mosque  at,  de- 
stroyed by  Motawakkel,  398  ; 
sorrows  of  the  martyr  of,  re- 
membered, 442 

Kibla,  The  national,  established, 

139 
Kindy,  Al,  The  apology  of,  389 
Kinnesrin  (Kinnisrin),  conquest 
of,    243  ;  in  charge  of  Kalid, 
252  ;  taken  by  the  Tulunides, 
406 
Koba,  the  bright  suburb  of  Mec- 
ca, 125,  126 
Kobad,  The  iron  gates  of,  345 
Koran  (Alcoran,  pronounced  Ko- 
ran),   the   Arabian  Bible,   13  ; 
versions   of,   38,   224  ;  the  re- 


482 


INDEX. 


corded  knowledge  of  the  new 
religion,  82  ;  suras  of  the,  133  ; 
original  of  the,  in  paradise, 
134  ;  uncompromising  spirit  of 
the,  143  ;  a  possible  intention 
to  revise  the,  206  ;  ordinances 
of  a  temporary  nature  in,  212; 
the,  Mohammed's  only  mira- 
cle, 213  ;  to  be  obeyed  in  all 
its  parts,  221,  222  ;  danger  of 
loss  of  the,  224  ;  revision  of 
the,  224,  263  ;  purest  teachings 
of,  ignored,  233  ;  skepticism 
regarding,  in  time  of  Mehdi, 
365  ;  power  of  the  book,  379  ; 
not  to  be  considerod  an  uncre- 
ated book,  384  ;  opinions  re- 
garding, 385  ;  the,  assailed  by 
Al  Kindy,  389  ;  nature  of,  the 
law  regarding,  394,  395  ;  the 
uncreated  nature  of,  asserted 
by  Motawakkel,  396  ;  infrac- 
tions of  rules  of,  denounced, 
402  ;  the,  not  honored,  422 

Korassan,  raids  into,  267  ;  rebels 
against  Abd  el  Melik,  316  ;  re- 
volt in,  under  Yezid  II.,  338  ; 
disturbances  by  the  Alyites  in, 
348  ;  the  veiled  prophet  of, 
362  ;  rise  of  the  Taherians  in, 
404  ;  wrenched  from  the  kalif- 
ate  by  Yakub,  405  ;  conquered 
by  the  Samanades,  411  ;  Sel- 
juks  in,  432 

Koreishites,  the,  feasted  by  Abd 
al  Muttalib,  40  ;  naturally  op- 
posed to  Mohammed,  79  ;  re- 
ceive the  offer  of  Islam,  82  ; 
doubtful  as  to  how  they  might 
best  oppose  Islam,  87  ;  tempt 
Mohammed,  90;  enquire  about 
the  men  of  Yathrib,  115  ;  de- 
feated atBedr,  149,  151  ;  aided 
by  Iblis  at  Bedr,  151  ;  discom- 
fited at  Medina,  165  ;  suspi- 
cious of  Mohammed,  169  ; 
treaty  with,  173;  permit  the 
Moslems  to  enter  Mecca, 
175  ;  decline  of,  177  ;  attack 
the     Kozaites,      iSi  ;      over- 


come,   183  ;    traffickers,    186  , 
growing  antagonism  to,  266 

Koreitza,  Jews  of,  vengeance 
upon,  165 

Kossai,  rise  of,  30  ;  descendants 
find  rivals,  32 

Kothan,  the  original  name  of 
the  prophet,  40 

Kozaites,  The,  injured  by  the 
Koreishites,  181 

Kufa,  site  of,  228;  founded,  238; 
appealed  to  by  Ali,  275  ;  be- 
comes the  capital  of  the  kalif- 
ate  under  Ali,  278  ;  calls 
Hosein,  298;  grasped  by  Mok- 
tar,  311  ;  strange  sights  in  the 
palace  at,  314;  Hejaj  at,  316; 
victory  of  the  Alyites  at,  in 
time  of  Mamun,  378  ;  and 
Bassora,  troubles  at,  260,  266, 
267,  268 

L 

Lake,  on  the  paroxysms  of  Mo- 
hammed, 64 
Lane-Poole,    Stanley,    on  secret 
assassination,  152  ;  "Speeches 
of  Mohammed,"  by,  224;  his 
"  Persian  Miracle-Play,"  304  ; 
"Story     of     the     Moors      in 
Spain,"  by,  332 
Laodicea  taken  by  assault,  243 
Law,  Lack  of,  at  Medina,  152 
Lent,  The  Arabian,  20,  63 
Leo  III.  repulses  the  Saracens. 

336 
Leo    of    Thessalonica,   War  for 

possession  of,  386 
Letters  in  Arabia,  60  ;  first  culti- 
vated by  Ali,  287  ;   cultivated 
under     Harun,      368  ;     under 
Mamun  388  ;  under  Wathek, 
395  ;  under  Motawakkel,  398; 
under  Radi,  427 
Library,  The,  of  Alexandria,  254 
Lie,  The  first,  in  Islam,  275 
Life  of  a  man,  Fine  for  the,  32, 

33 
Literature  cultivated  by  Mehdi, 
364,  (see  Letters) 


INDEX, 


4S3 


Literature  and  theology  at  Kufa 

and  Bassora,  238 
Love,  Law  of,  not  understood  by 

Christians,  211 
Luxury,  of  the  reign  of  Abd  el 

Melik,      320 ;     in     time     of 

Mamun,  388 

M 

Magians,  The  religion  of,  under- 
mined, 322 

Magreb,  the  western  land,  •10 

Mahadi,  founded  by  Obeidalla, 
south  of  Tunis,  416 

Mahaflfy,  J.  P.,  "  Story  of  Alex- 
ander's Kingdom,"  by,  258 

Mahdi,  expectations  of,  by  the 
Hanifs,  50,  63  ;  looked  for  by 
men  of  Yathrib,  loo  ;  expected 
to  return,  266,  311,  312,  414  ; 
spread  of  the  belief  in  a,  414 

Mahmud  of  Ghazni,  conquests 
of,  431  ;  his  last  hours,  431  ; 
builds  a  mosque  and  a  library, 
432 

Mamun  brought  up  at  Merv,  256; 
governor  of  Korassan,  374 ; 
makes  to  himself  friends  at 
Merv,  375;  becomes  kalif,  377; 
resigns  his  power  to  Fadhl, 
378  ;  surrenders  to  the  Alyitc 
influence,  380  j  panic-stricken, 

381  ;  ghastly  dissimulation  of, 

382  ;  death  of,  in  Cilicia, 
387  ;  career  of  388  ;  liber- 
ality of,  388  ;  and  Amin,  war 
between,  376  %  and  Motasim, 
germs  of  decay  planted  in 
reigns  of,  423 

Maniacs,  Asylum  for  the,  at  Bag- 
dad, 438 

Mansur,  designated  as  successor 
of  Abbas,  354 ;  besieged  in 
his  palace,  356  ;  death  of,  360; 
protests  against  the  expectation 
of  a  Mahdi,  414 

Marigny,  "  Histoire  des  Revolu- 
tions de  I'empire  des  Arabes,  " 
414 


Marriage  of  Mamun  and  Buran, 

383 

Marriage  and  concubinage,  233 

Mary,  the  Coptic  wife  of  Mo- 
hammed, I  go 

Maslam,  Battle  at,  313 

Maurice  (emperor),  wars  with 
Chosroes,  3 

Maurice,  F.  D.,  on  Mohammed's 
idea  of  God,  213 

Meal-sacks,  Battle  of  the,  153 

Mecca  (Mekka,  Mekkeh),  posi- 
tion of,  27  ;  growth  of,  under 
Kossai,  30  ;  threatened  by 
Abraha,  34  ;  trusts  in  Allah, 
36  ;  deserted  by  the  Moslems, 
116 ;  thrives  after  the  hejra, 
143  ;  does  not  retaliate  on  Mo- 
hammed, 147  ;  alarmed  at  the 
aggression  of  Mohammed,  148; 
obstruction  of  the  approach  to, 
168  ;  prepares  an  expedition 
against  Medina,  164  ;  an  at- 
tack upon,  182  ;  intrigues  at, 
274;  stormed  by  Yezid's  troops, 
307  ;  besieged  by  Hejaj,  315  ; 
pilgrimage  to,  by  Mehdi,  361  ; 
and  Medina,  decline  of  import- 
ance of,  under  the  Omiades, 
288  ;  cared  for  by  Wathek,  395 

Meccans  forbidden  to  listen  to 
Mohammed,  92 

Medain,  the  Twin  City,  Site  of, 
227  ;  capture  of,  by  the  Mos- 
lems, 238  •  plan  of  Mansur  to 
destroy,  358 

Medicine  studied  in  time  of 
Mamun,  388 

Medina  (see  Yathrib),  emigra- 
tion of  Islamites  to,  116;  situ- 
ation of,  124;  receives  its  name, 
138;  put  in  a  state  of  siege, 
164;  a  mob  at,  iSg;  deputa- 
tions throng  to,  194;  sadness 
in,  at  the  death  of  Mohammed, 
215;  conference  of  governors 
at,  270  ;  men  of,  urge  Ali  as 
candidate  for  kalif,  273;  and 
Mecca  surrender  to  Moawia, 
284 


4^4 


INDEX. 


Meditation,  The,  of  Mohammed 
in  desert  places,  68 

Mehdi  (Mahdee,  Mahdy),  be- 
comes kalif,  360;  character  of, 
360,  361;  death  of,  364 

Melitene,  advance  of  Mansur 
upon,  356;  Theophilus  at,  392 

Mercy  of  Allah,  Dependence  of 
ail  upon  the,  214 

Merv  (Merou),  vicissitudes  of, 
256;  conspirators  at  work  at, 
350 

Merwan  becomes  kalif,  309 

Merwan  II.,  accession  of,  348  ; 
flight  of,  351 ;  death  of,  351 

Meslim,  son  of  Akba,  at  Medina, 
306 

Mesopotamia,  region  of,  227  ; 
overcome, 235 

Meyfart,  Heavenly  home-sick- 
ness of,  131 

Military  spirit.  The,  perpetuated 
by  the  diwan,  245 

Milman,  Dean,  on  the  burning  of 
the  library  of  Alexandria,  254 

Mina,  Valley  of,  198 

Ministers  of  the  kalifs,  overthrow 
their  masters,  424  ;  made  auto- 
cratic by  Radi,  426 

Miracle,  A,  demanded  of  Mo- 
hammed, 92 

Miracle-Play,  The,  of  Persia,  304 

Miracles  not  depended  upon  by 
Mohammed,  213 

Moawia  (spelled  also  Muavia, 
Muaweiah,  Moaweeyah,  Moa- 
wiyah,  etc.),  made  governor  of 
Syria,  253;  stirs  up  strife  in 
Syria,  274;  character  of,  278; 
ruse  of,  at  Siffin,  281;  declared 
kalif  by  a  board  of  arbitrators, 
281  ;  wounded  by  a  Karejite, 
284  ;  becomes  kalif  on  the 
resignation  of  Hasan,  287 ; 
visits  Medina  and  Mecca  in 
behalf  of  Yezid,  296  ;  death 
of,  296,  297 

Moawia  11.  ascends  the  throne, 
308;  abdicates  and  dies,  309 

Mob,  A,  at  Medina,  189 


Moez,  the  Fatimite,  gives  his 
pedigree,  413,  414 

Mohammed  (Mahomet,  Muham- 
mad, etc.),  opposed  by  the 
Koreishites,  34,  88,  97  ;  born, 
39  ;  infancy  of,  41  ;  youth  of, 
43  ;  goes  to  Syria,  44  ;  proud 
of  the  union  for  peace,  49  ; 
solitary  youth  of,  54  ;  goes  to 
Syria  with  caravans,  55  ;  per- 
sonal appearance  of,  55  ;  mar- 
ried  happiness  of,  59  ;  influence 
of  wealth  upon,  60  ;  health  of, 
64  ;  under  an  unnatural  mental 
strain,  64  ;  in  earnest  for  the 
good  of  others,  65  ;  prestige 
of,  increased,  66  ;  hears  voices, 
68  ;  perplexed,  74,  75  ;  con- 
templates suicide,  75  ;  exult- 
ant, 76  ;  the  sublime  faith  of, 
78,  80  ;  scorned,  83  ;  boldly 
opposes  idolatry,  83  ;  repulses 
the  blind  man,  86  ;  insulted, 
89  ;  tempted  by  the  Koreish- 
ites, 90,  91  ;  refuses  to  try  to 
compass  a  miracle,  92  ;  under 
the  ban,  94  ;  and  the  Hashi- 
mites  shut  up  in  the  sheb  of 
Abu  Talib,  94  ;  goes  on  a  mis- 
sion to  Taif,  97  ;  preaches  to 
the  jinns,  98  ;  looks  for  dis- 
ciples at  Yathrib,  loo  ;  lays 
stress  on  dreams,  103  ;  seeks  a 
temporal  kingdom.  III  ;  less 
aggressive,  112  ;  demands  of,  at 
the  second  meeting  at  Akaba, 
115  ;  persecuted  by  the  Ko- 
reishites, 116  ;  informed  of  a 
plot,  117  ;  leaves  Mecca,  117, 
118,  122  ;  arrives  at  Yathrib, 
125  ;  commands  abstinence 
from  wine,  128  ;  view  of  Al- 
lah, 129  ;  not  a  sensuous  man, 
132  ;  first  effort,  133  ;  simple 
home  life,  141  ;  unsheathes  the 
sword,  142  ;  use  of  the  sword 
by,  144  ;  tempted  by  the  Mec- 
can  caravans,  144  ;  attacks 
caravans,  146  ;  a  triumphant 
chieftain,  153  ;  not  an  ascetic. 


INDEX, 


485 


153  ;  arms  himself,  154,  155  ; 
reported  slain  at  Ohud,  157  ; 
sagacious  action  of,  after 
Ohud,  158 ;  exults  over  the 
Jews,  159  ;  wives  of,  160 ; 
opinion  of  Ali,  161  ;  apart- 
ments of,  rules  in  regard  to, 
162  ;  irritated  by  being  shut 
out  of  Mecca,  168  ;  fortifies 
Medina,  164  ;  determines  to 
make  the  pilgrimage  to  Mecca, 
169  ;  respect  paid  to,  by  his 
disciples,  172  ;  causes  a  signet 
ring  to  be  engraved,  173  ; 
sends  messages  to  crowned 
heads,  173  ;  performs  the  pil- 
grimage to  Mecca,  175,  176  ; 
watches  the  struggle  between 
Rome  and  Persia,  179  ;  ar- 
ranges to  attack  Mecca,  182  ; 
enters  Mecca  in  triumph, 
peacefully,  184  ;  humanity  of, 
on  capturing  Mecca,  184,  185  ; 
mobbed  at  Medina,  189  ; 
resignation  of,  at  the  time  of 
Ibrahim's  death,  192  ;  king 
and  priest,  200  ;  growing  old, 
200  ;  last  pilgrimage  of,  201  ; 
last  address  of,  202  ;  last  days 
of,  205,  207  ;  inconsistencies 
of,  211  ;  might  have  been  a 
Christian  missionary,  212  ; 
teachings  of,  208-213  ;  de- 
clares himself  no  more  than 
man,2i5;  burial  of, 21 7;  inten- 
tion to  revise  the  Koran,  263; 
signet  of,  lost  by  Othman,  269; 
plenary  indulgence  offered  by, 
to  those  who  would  go  against 
Constantinople,  292  ;  acquaint- 
ed with  the  heresies  of  later 
days,  395  ;  promised  a  Mahdi, 
411;  cloak  of,  not  honored,  422 

Mohammed  al  Mehdi,  Expected 
return  of,  266 

Mohammed,  son  of  Abu  Bekr, 
made  governor  of  Egypt,  282  ; 
burned  alive,  282 

Mohammed,  son  of  Zeid,  a  rival 
of  Mptamed,  406 


Moharrem,  tenth  of,  302  ;  sorrow 
in,  442 

Mokanna,  the  Veiled  Prophet  of 
Korassan,  362,  363 

Moktar  declares  himself  the 
promised  Mahdi,  311 

Moktafi  becomes  kalif,  410 

Moktader  becomes  kalif,  412  ; 
character  of,  413  ;  astonishes 
two  ambassadors  from  Zoe, 
418,  420  ;  deposed,  421  ;  re- 
placed on  the  throne,  421  ; 
assassinated,  422 

Moktar,  defeat  of,  414 

Money  first  coined  by  the  kalifs, 
318 

Montaser  becomes  kalif,  399 

"  Moors  in  Spain,  Story  of  the," 
332 

Morals,  Decay  of,  in  the  time  of 
Mamun,  386 

Moslem  (Muslim),  meaning  of 
the  word,  66,  80  ;  picture  of 
the  true,  135 

Moslems,  changes  in  the,  233  ; 
total  estimated  number  of, 
407 

Mosque,  the,  erected  at  Medina, 
138  ;  busy  life  in,  194  ;  at 
Jerusalem,  founded  by  Omar, 
251 

"  Mosque,  Studies  in  a,"  by 
Stanley  Lane-Poole,  304 

Mosques,  gatherings  in,  on  Fri- 
days, 130 

Mostain  becomes  kalif,  400  ;  as- 
sassinated, 402 

Motaded,  accession  of,  407  ;  ar- 
rests the  progress  of  the  Kar- 
mathians,  408 

Motadi  set  up  by  the  Turks, 
402  ;  assassinated,  403,  405 

Motamed  placed  on  the  throne 
by  the  Turks,  405  ;  death  of, 
407 

Motanna  at  Boweib,  235 

Motasim,  brother  of  Mamun, 
counselled  for  good,  387  ;  be- 
comes kalif,  390 

Motawakkel    (Motawukkel)   be- 


486 


INDEX, 


comes   kalif,  by  grace  of  the 

Turks,  396 
Motaz  proclaimed  kalif,  402 
Mosul  threatened  by  the  Kazars, 

345 

Motazilites,  an  offshoot  of  the 
Shias,  282 

Mother,  Mohammed's  direction 
regarding,  208 

Mother  of  the  faithful,  Title  of, 
162 

Muajerin,  the  emigrants  from 
Mecca,  127,  142 

Muezzin,  daily  cry  of  the,  no  ; 
call  to  prayer,  the,  140  ;  the, 
calls  the  faithful  to  prayer  at 
Mecca,  184 

Muir,  Sir  William,  on  the  expec- 
tations of  the  Hanifs.  51  ;  on 
the  opposition  of  the  Koreish- 
ites,  79  ;  on  the  offer  of  Islam 
to  the  Koreishites,  82  ;  account 
of  Boweib,  235  ;  does  not  ac- 
cept the  siege  of  Bostra  as  a 
fact,  231  ;  on  the  Moslem  era, 
260  ;  "  Early  Kalif  ate,"  300  ; 
edition  of  the  "  Apology  of  Al 
Kindy,"  389 

Miiller,  August,  on  the  date  of 
Mohammed's  birth,  39  ;  on 
the  meaning  of  Abu  Bekr,  100  ; 
on  the  date  of  the  Hejra,  121  ; 
and  Deutsch  on  the  prize 
poems  of  Okatz,  48 

Munkir  and  Nakir,  Offices  of ,  17 

Musa,  sent  into  Africa,  324  ;  re- 
turns to  Damascus,  332  ; 
makes  a  magnificent  plan  re- 
garding Europe,  332  ;  fate 
of,  334,  335 

Musa,  AH  ben,  see  Aliben  Musa, 
381 

Musab,  governor  of  Bassora, 
311  ;  slain,  313 

Muselima,  a  rival  of  Mohammed, 
203  ;  career  and  death  of,  223 

Muslim,  founder  of  the  Abbasside 
dynasty,  350-354  ;  assassina- 
tion of,  355  ;  reminiscence  of, 
362 


Mussab,  preacher   of   Islam,   at 

Yathrib,  113 
Muta,  messenger  of  Mohammed 

executed  at,  179 
Mutaim  protects  Mohammed,  99 
Mystery  of  Arabia,  2 

N 

Nadhir,  The,  subjection  of,  159 
Nakir  and  Munkir,  Offices  of,  17 
Nakla,  Pillage  at,  147 
Name  of  Mohammed,  The,  40 
Narbonne,  Siege  of,  339 
Nations,  The,  summoned  to  ac- 
cept Islam,  173 
Nehrwan,  Karejites  overcome  by 

Ali  at,  282 
Nejd,     Jews     in,     159  ;      offers 

prayers  but  not  tribute,  221 
Nevahend,  battle  of,  256 
Nicgea   threatened    by   Hisham, 

345 
Nicephorus  insults  Harun,  370  ; 

forced  to  keep  peace,  373 
Night    of    clangor  at    Kadesia, 

238 
Nights,  The  Thousand  and  One, 

366,  370 
Nisibis,  Battle  at,  between  Ab- 

dalla  and  Muslim,  355 
Noman,  governor  of  Kufa,  300 


Oath  of  Akaba,  the  first,   100  ; 

the  second,  115 
Obeidalla,     the    Alyite,    asserts 

himself,  414,  416 
Obeidolla,  son  of  Ziyad,  brought 

forward,  291 
Octave,   The,  a   name    for    Mo- 

tasim,  394 
Offices,  trouble  about,  under  Ali, 

273 
Ohud,  three  miles  from  Medina, 

battle  at,  154-157  ;  description 

of,  156 
Okatz,  Fair  at,  47 
Okba,  conquests  of,  in  Africa,  294 


INDEX. 


487 


Old  Man  of  the  Mountains,  The, 
chief  of  the  Assassins,  433,  434 

Oliphant,  Laurence,  on  the  Yer- 
muk  gorge,  230 

Omar  (Umar,  Omer,  Oomur, 
etc.),  conversion  of,  93  ;  re- 
ceives a  sharp  word  from  Mo- 
hammed, 196 ;  will  not  think 
the  prophet  dead,  215  ;  claims 
of,  upon  the  kalifate,  219  ; 
chosen  kalif,  232  ;  force  of 
character  of,  234  ;  journeys  to 
Jerusalem,  248 ;  habits  of, 
249  ;  mosque  of,  251 ;  returns 
to  Medina,  251  ;  cautious  about 
advancing  on  Persia,  256  ; 
adorns  Mecca,  258  ;  assassina- 
tion of,  260,  261  ;  dying  be- 
quest of,  261  ;  simplicity  of, 
308 

Omar  II.  becomes  kalif,  337 

Omia  (spelled  also  Umeyyah, 
Ommeyyah,  etc.)  opposes 
Hashim,  32 

Omiades  (spelled  also  Ommai- 
ades,  Ommeyyads,  etc.),  the, 
at  the  death  of  Omar,  264  ; 
dynasty  of,  begun,  288  ;  chased 
from  Medina,  306  ;  Damascus 
loyal  to  the,  309  ;  greatest 
glory  of,  321  ;  greatest  domin- 
ions of,  333  ;  cause  of  the, 
lost,  351 

0mm  Selma  (widow  of  Moham- 
med)   invited   to    oppose    Ali, 

275 

Ordeals,  Absurd,  in  late  times, 
194 

Ordonna,  Province  of,  246 

Orthodoxy  encouraged  by  Mo- 
tawakkel,  396 

Osama  sent  into  Roman  terri- 
tory, 204  ;  sent  on  an  expedi- 
tion of  vengeance,  217,  221 

Osborne,  "  Islam  under  the 
Khalifs,"  398 

Othman  (Ibn  Aflfan)  (Osman, 
Ottoman),  claims  of,  upon  the 
kalifate,  219  ;  chosen  kalif, 
264  ;  traits  of,  266  ;    nepotism 


of,    268  ;    loses    Mohammed's 
signet,    269  ;     indecision     of, 

269  ;    insulted   in    the  pulpit, 

270  ;    assassination     of,    271  ; 
death  of,  to  be  revenged,  274 

Oxus,  the,  crossed,  322 


Pageant,  An  Oriental,  at  time  of 
Moktader,  418 

Palestine,  operations  in,  238  ; 
province  of,  246  ;  rising  in, 348 

Palmer,  E.  H.,  on  the  date  of  Mo- 
hammed's birth,  39  ;  on  Islam, 

129  ;  version  of  the  Koran,  224 
Palmyra,  see  Tadmor 
Paradise,  ideas  of,  19  ;  offered  to 

the  faithful,  95  ;  Mohammed's 
vision  of,  105  ;  the,  of  Islam, 

130  ;  the  earthly,  in  which 
Hashishim  was  supposed  to 
live,  434 

Parties,  the,  at  Yathrib,  127  ;  in 

Islam,  264 
Pater  Noster,  The  Arabian,  64 
Peace,  union  for,  49 
Peacock  of  the  angels.  The,  16 
Pelly's  "  Miracle-Play,"  300 
People  of   the    Book,     The,    at 

Yathrib,  128  ;  the,  driven  out, 

159 

Persecution  of  Mohammed,  116  ; 
of  those  who  adhered  to  or- 
thodoxy, 390  ;  of  Christians 
and  Moslems  by  Wathek,  395  ; 
of  Jews  and  Christians  by 
Motawakkel,  398  ;  put  an  end 
to  by  Montaser,  399 

Persia,  Arabian  expedition  to, 
60  ;  Islam  in,  220 ;  Omar 
cautious  about  advancing  on, 
256;  Western,  conquered,  25S; 
rebellions  in,  267  ;  heresies 
from,  365  ;  influence  of,  in 
time  of  Mamun,  383,  384  ; 
disorders  in,  in  time  of  Mos- 
tanjed,  436 

Persia  and  Rome,  the  two  promi- 
nent   powers,   strife   between, 


488 


INDEX, 


3,  60  ;  struggle  between, 
watched  by  Mohammed,  179 

Persian  influence  of  the  Barme- 
cides, 372 

Persian  influence,  jealousy 
against,  375  ;  increase  of,  378 

Persian  Passion-Play,  The,  304 

Persians    defeated    at    Boweib, 

235 
Philosopher,  War  for  a,  386 
Pilgrimage,    ceremonies    of   the, 

31  ;  changes  in  the  ceremonial 

of,    under    Othman,    268  ;     a 

luxurious,   361  ;    the    last,   of 

Mohammed,  201 
Pilgrimages,    pecuniary   interest 

in  the,   79  ;    re-established  by 

Montaser,  399 
Pilgrims  at  Mecca  in  early  times. 

Plague  in  Syria  at  time  of  Omar, 
252 

Pledge  of  the  tree,  The,  172 

Pocock  denies  the  hanging  up  of 
poems  at  Okatz,  47 

Poems,  The  prize,  of  Okatz,  47 

Poitiers,  Battle  of,  341 

Political  intrigues  at  Kufa  and 
Bassora,  238 

Polygamy,  the,  of  the  prophet, 
100  ;  of  Islam,  129  ;  a  blot  on 
Islam,  211,  212  ;  Freeman 
upon,  233 

Prsetorians,  The,  in  Rome,  429 

Prayer,  duty  of,  135  ;  position 
in,  138  ;  the  call  to,  estab- 
lished, 140  ;  no  true  religion 
without,  195  ;  not  accepted 
without  tribute,  221 

Prayers,  Number  of,  prescribed, 
108 

Price,  "  History  of  Arabia,"  by, 
294 

Princes  of  princes  made  auto- 
cratic by  Radi,  426 

Prophecy,  The  seal  of,  42 

Prophets  before  Mohammed, 
their  fate,  112  ;  the  six,  134  ; 
of  Allah,  different  offices  of, 
H3 


R 


Rabbis,  Paradise  of  the,  132 
Radi  (Raddy,  Radhi),  the  last  of 

the  real  kalifs,  426  ;  poem  by, 

427 
Rakka     becomes     the     seat    of 

Harun,  373 
Ramadan,  the  month  of  fasting 

and  prayer,  20  ;  mode  in  which 

Mohammed    observed   it,    63, 

68,  71  ;  the  time  of  fasting,  76 
Rationalism,  The,  of  Persia,  384 
Rawendites,  Rise  of  the,  356 
Readers,  Loss  of  many,  223 
"  Reason,  The  Eternal,"  a  book 

from  Kabul,  384 
Reform,    A   radical,    in  Arabia, 

129 
Reforms,   The,    of  Mohammed, 

212  ;  of  Motadi,  403 
Rei  (Rai,  Rhe,  Rye),  battle  at, 

258  ;  battle  at,  between  Amin 

and  Mamun,  376 
Relationship,  Change  in  legisla- 
tion regarding,  160 
Release,  Proclamation  of,  199 
Religion,  of  the  early  Arabs,  14, 

16,  62  ;  systems  of  false,  78 
Religionists,  False,  put  down  by 

Medhi,  364 
Resurrection,  uncertain  faith  in, 

63  ;  doctrine  of  the,  130 
Revelation  vs.  reason,  384 
Revelations,  the  three,  134  ;  the 

"  convenient,"  of  Mohammed, 

210,  214 
Revolutions  in  time  of  Mostain, 

401  ;    in    time    of    Moktader, 

413 

Rhapsodies,  The,  of  Mohammed, 
64,  65 

Rhodes  taken  by  Moawia,  278 

Richness  and  weakness  of  the 
kalifate,  425 

Ring,  the,  of  Mohammed,  en- 
graved, 173  ;  lost  by  Othman, 
269 

River  of  Blood,  Battle  of  the 
229 


INDEX. 


489 


Roderick,  the  ruler  of  the  Goths, 
325  ;  death  of,  329 

Rodwell,  Rev.  J.  M.,  arrange- 
ment of  the  suras  by,  133  ; 
version  of  the  Koran,  224 

Romance,  An  era  of,  366 

Romans,  said  to  be  about  to  at- 
tack the  Moslems,  195  ;  in 
Syria,  campaign  against,  230  ; 
make  an  effort  to  drive  the 
Arabs  from  Syria,  252  ;  beaten 
off  Alexandria,  268 

Rome,  changes  in,  3  ;  sends  an 
army  to  Arabia,  26  ;  controls 
Syria,  178  ;  and  Persia,  the  two 
prominent  powers,  3,  60 


Saba,  Situation  of,  10 
Sabbath,  none  in  Islam,  130 
Sabians,  The  Abrahamitic,  10,  54 
Sacred  month.  Caravans  attacked 

in,  147 
Sacrilegious  act.  A,  147 
Sacrilegious  war.  The,  48 
Safa  and  Marwa,  The  hills,  31 
Saladin,   son  of  Ayub,  the  beau 

ideal    of    Saracenic    chivalry, 

436 
Sale,  George,    translator   of  the 

Koran,  on  Antichrist,  197 
Samana  allies  himself  with  Mo- 

taded,  408 
Samanades,    the    rise   of,    408  ; 

victory    of,    over    Amr,    409 ; 

great  domain  of,  411 
Samarkand,    science  and    letters 

at,   256  ;   centre  of  commerce 

and  learning,    291  ;    siege  of, 

322  ;  elegance  of,  322  ;  Seljuks 

at,     432  ;     taken     by     Jengis 

Khan,  440 
Samarra,   becomes   the  home  of 

Motasim,    390  ;    scramble    for 

spoils  at,  401 
Sara  sends  information  to  Mecca, 

182 
Saracens,     the    terror    of,    324 ; 

greatness  of  domain  of,  333  ; 


confidence  of,  in  France,  341  ; 
defeated  at  Tours,  342  ;  re- 
treat from  Spain,  344  ;  end  of 
their  career  of  conquest,  347  ; 
threaten  Irene  at  Constanti- 
nople, 364  ;  lose  enthusiasm 
for  war,   401 

Sardinia  ravaged,  322 

Sassanidae,  Dynasty  of  the,  62 

Scheherazade,  Tales  of,  366 

Schism,  The,  in  Islam,  308 

Scinde  overrun,  322 

Scholars,  opinion  of  Mamun  re- 
garding, 388 

Schuyler's     "  Turkistan,"     322, 

424; 
Scriptural  people.  The,  6 
Second  of  the  Two,  The,  118 
Sectaries,    the,    308  ;    of   Islam, 
264  ;  a  proof  of  its  truth,  135 
Seljuks,  take  possession  of  Merv, 
256  ;    at  Bagdad,  430  ;  rise  of 
the,  432  ;    division  of   empire 
of,  436 
Sell,    Edward,    "  The    Faith  of 

Islam,"  by,  396 
Selucia  and  Ctesiphon,  227 
Semitic  idea  of  the  government 

of  the  universe,  54 
Sensuality   of    the    paradise    of 

Islam,  132 
Seth  builds  the  Kaaba,  24 
Sheb,  The,  of  Abu  Talib,  94 
Sheba,  The  queen  of,  visits  Solo- 
mon, 10 
She-camel,  The,  of  the  Koran,  46 
Shehib  leads  the  Karejites,  317 
Shias,  the  sect  of,  266  ;  in  Per- 
sia, 220  ;  origin  of,  308  ;  pro- 
portion of  in  Islam,  407 
Sicily,  ravaged,  322  ;  ravaged  by 

the  Alyites,  416 
Siffin,  Battle  of,  279,  280 
Simplicity,  the,  of  the  Moslems, 
lost,  297,  308  ;  departure  from, 
by  Walid,  321 
Sincerity  of  Mohammed,  212 
Skepticism,   in  time    of    Mehdi, 

365  ;  of  Mamun,  385 
Slanderer,  Sura  of  the,  68,  70 


490 


INDEX. 


Slavery  in  Islam,  2ii 

Soffarides,  The,  rise  of,  404,  405  ; 
acknowledged  by  Mohammed, 
405  ;  gains  of,  406  ;  extinc- 
tion of,  410 

Soliman  (Suleiman,  Solyman, 
Sooleyman),  leads  the  Kare- 
jites,  310 ;  his  dealings  with 
Musa,    334,    335  ;    death    of, 

337 

Solitude,  The,  of  Mohammed,  54 

Solomon,  wondrous  tales  of,  13  ; 
seal-ring  of,  18  ;  example  of, 
in  prayer,  138  ;  table  of,  330 

Son  and  mother,  Relations  of, 
208 

Sonnites,  The,  of  the  present 
time,  220  ;  the  sect  of,  264, 
266  ;  origin  of,  308 

Spain,  attractions  of,  to  the  Sara- 
cens, 326  ;  complete  conquest 
of>  333  J  government  of  the 
Saracens  in,  336  ;  progress  of 
the  Saracens  in,  338  ;  discord 
in,  348 

Spells,  Faith  in,  166 

Spoil,  Law  regarding  the  division 
of,  149  ;  from  the  Jews,  175  ; 
the,  at  Honein,  igo  ;  at  Da- 
mascus, 240  ;  systematic  dis- 
tribution of,  ordered  by  Omar, 

245 

Spoils,  Scramble  for,  at  Samarra, 
401 

Sprenger  on  Mohammed's  "  epi- 
leptic fits,"  64 

Stone,  the  sacred  white,  of  the 
Kaaba,  22  ;  replaced  in  the 
Kaaba  by  Mohammed,  66 

Strabo  visits  Arabia  and  brings 
information  about  it,  27 

Strategy  of  Mohammed,  165 

Sultan,  title  first  assumed  by 
Mahmud,  432 

Sura,  Meaning  of,  13 

Suras,   Differing   length   of  the, 

133 
Sus  (Shushan)  taken,  256 
Sword,  The  unsheathed,  142,  199 
Syria,  government  of,  62  ;  sum- 


moned to  accept  Islam,  174  ; 
an  expedition  to,  195,  196 ; 
conquered,  232,  241  ;  divisions 
of,  246  ;  total  conquest  of,  252  ; 
lost  to  Ali,  281,  282  ;  deso- 
lated by  Theophilus,  392  ; 
invaded  by  the  Tulunides, 
406  ;  ravaged  by  the  Karma 
thians  in  time  of  Moktader 
420 


Tabari,  on  the  number  of  the 
friends  of  Othman's  memory, 
279  ;  neglects  the  siege  of 
Constantinople,  292 

Tabaristan  lost  to  the  kalifate, 
401 

Tabuk,  Council  of  war  at,  196 

Tadmor  (Palmyra)  taken  by 
Kalid,  231 

Taherians,  Rise  of,  404 

Tahir,  the  Persian,  attacks  Bag- 
dad, 376 

Taif,  jealous  of  Mecca,  35  ;  new 
buildings  at,  60  ;  Mohammed 
goes  on  a  mission  to,  97  ;  re- 
jects Mohammed,  98  ;  idola- 
try at,  186  ;  siege  of,  188,  195  ; 
Hejaj  rests  at,  315  ;  and  Mecca, 
commerce  at,  144,  146 

Talha,  presented  as  candidate  for 
kalif,  272  ;  and  Zobeir  swear 
allegiance  to  Ali,  273 

Tamerlane,  Tomb  of,  at  Samar- 
kand, 291 

Tarif,  leader  of  an  invasion  into 
Spain,  326  ;  and  Tarik,  confu- 
sion of  the  names,  328 

Tarik  ben  Zeyad  receives  an  offer 
from  Julian,  326  ;  invades 
Spain,  328  ;  career  of  in  Spain, 
330 ;  returns  to  Damascus, 
332 

Tarsus,  Mamun  at,  386 ;  arrest 
of  progress  of  Ahmed  at,  406 

Tears,  The  Day  of,  275 

Teheran  conquered,  258 

Temperance,  see  Abstinence. 


INDEX. 


491 


Tent,  Family  of  the,  303 

Thamud,  Caves  of  the  children 
of,  40 

Theophilus,  emperor,  refuses  to 
resign  Leo,  387  ;  begins  a 
war  with  Motasim,  392 

Thinkers  and  their  thoughts,  214 

Thought,  Genesis  of,  214 

Togrul  Beg  enters  Bagdad  and 
makes  himself  Prince  of 
Princes,  433 

Toleration  in  time  of  Mamun, 
389  ;  discussion  of,  in  time  of 
Wathek,  395 

Tours  attacked  by  Abd  er  Rah- 
man, 340  ;  battle  of,  341 

Traders  between  Arabia  and  Pal- 
estine, 25 

Traditionists,  a  name  foi  the 
Sonnites,  308 

Traffic  increases  at  Mecca,  143  ; 
not  to  interfere  with  devotion, 
199 

Trances,  The,  of  Mohammed,  64 

Treason  in  the  days  of  Othman, 
270 

Tree,  pledge  of  the,  172  ;  the 
oath  under,  219 

Tribute,  demanded  of  Christians, 
194  ;  must  be  given,  221;  opin- 
ion of  Omar  regarding,  254 

Trinity,  Mohammed's  view  of, 
129;  discussion  regarding,  192, 

193 

Truce  of  God,  The,  48 

Trusty,  The  sobriquet  of  Mo- 
hammed, 55,  66 

Tuleya,  a  rival  of  Mohammed  in 
Nejd,  203 

Tulun,  founder  of  the  Tulunides, 
406 

Tulunides,  The  rise  of,  406;  over- 
throw of  dynasty  of,  412 

Turkestan,  hordes  growing 
strong  in,  4  ;  raids  into,  267  ; 
rise  of  the  Seljuks  in,  432 

Turkish  body-guard,  the,  of  Mo- 
tasim, 390  ;  the,  increasing  in 
power,  411  ;  supremacy  of  the, 
429 


Turkish  empire,  rise  of  the,  433 
Turks,  troubles  with,  at  time  of 
Othman,  267  ;  pushed  from 
Korassan  by  Obeidolla,  291  ; 
influence  of,  394  ;  almost  com- 
plete masters,  396  ;  efforts  to 
restrict  their  power,  399  ;  jeal- 
ousy among  the,  401  ;  powers 
of  increase,  402  ;  tighten  their 
grip,  422 


U 


Unbelievers,  threatened,  113;  to 
be  swept  from  the  earth,  200 

Union  for  peace,  49 

Unity,  The,  of  God,  as  presented 
by  Mohammed,  211  ;  of  the 
religion  of  Islam,  263 


V 


Vambery,"  History  of  Bokhara," 

410.  432,  440 
Veil,  Use  of  the,  161 
Vengeance,  Private,  not  allowed 

during  the  sacred  month,  48 
Victory  in  battle  the  criterion  of 

truth,     151  ;     a    constructive, 

173  ;  chapter  of  the,  173 
Vision,  of  the  jinns,  99  ;  the,  of 

Mohammed,  no 
Voices  heard  by  Mohammed,  68, 

72 

W 

Wacusa,  Battle  of,  231,  234 

Wady  defined,  7 

Walid,  grandeur  of  his  reign, 
320  ;  throws  Tarik  into  prison, 
330  ;  death  of,  333 

Walid  II.,  accession  of,  346  ; 
character  of,  347 

Wall,  The  great,  of  China,  scaled 
by  Jengis  Khan,  440 

War,  deprecated  by  the  men  of 
Yathrib,  89  ;  in  Islam  to  con- 
tinue till  Antichrist  come,  197  ; 
as  used  by  despots,  226 


492 


INDEX, 


Waraka,  the  Hanif,  speculations 
of,  50,  52,  63  ;  the  most  learn- 
ed man  of  his  time,  63  ;  ap- 
proves Mohammed,  72,  80 ; 
and  Kadija,  the  first  converts, 
80 

Warfare,  Aggressive,  thought  ne- 
cessary by  Mohammed,  142 

Wars,  P'oreign,  of  Omar  and 
Othman,  266 

Wasil  ben  Ata  founds  the  order 
of  Motazilites,  282 

Wasit,  foundation  of,  by  Hejaj, 
316  ;  Mostain  assassinated  at, 
402  ;    defeat  of  Yakub    near, 

405 

Wassif,  the  Turk,  assassinates 
Motawakkel,  399  ;  bargains 
with  Mostain,  400 

Wathek  (Vathek)  becomes  kalif, 

394 

Weakness,  an  element  of,  intro- 
duced by  Motasim,  394  ;  of 
the  kalifate,  425 

Wealth,  influence  of,  on  Moham- 
med, 62  ;  not  to  be  preferred 
to  the  faith,  199 

Wedding.  The  gorgeous,  of  Ma- 
mun,  383 

Weil,  August,  on  Islam,  136  ;  on 
ordinances  of  the  Koran,  212 

Widows  elevated,  210 

Wine,  use  of,  63  ;  abstinence 
from,  first  recommended,  then 
commanded,  128  ;  prohibition 
of,  137,  161  ;  not  to  be  sold  by 
Christians  at  Jerusalem,  250  ; 
drunk  in  opposition  to  the  law 
of  Mohammed,  308  ;  drinking 
of,  by  Walid  II.,  347  ;  by 
Harun,  372  ;  misuse  of,  by 
Motawakkel,  396  ;  denounced 
by  Motadi,  402 

Witches,  persecutions  of,  167 

Witica,  king  of  the  Goths,  325 

Wives,  numbers  of,  63  ;  Moham- 
med's treatment  of,  130  ;  four 
allowed  by  Mohammed,  132  ; 
the,  of  the  prophet,  160  ; 
apartments  of,  141  ;  forbidden 


to  be  jealous,  162,  192  ;  limit 
of  the  number  of,  162  ;  the,  of 
Mohammed,  number  uncer- 
tain, 201  ;  difference  between 
one  and  two,  233  ;  and  hus- 
bands, mutual  duties  of,  202 

Woman,  Mohammed's  treatment 
of,  130 

Women,  kindle  fury  at  Mecca, 
154  ;  of  Mecca  at  the  battle  of 
Ohud,  156  ;  the  four  perfect, 
161  ;  and  children,  delight  of, 
136 

Wright,  "  Early  Travels,"  438 


X 


Xeres,  Battle  of,  329 


Yahya,  son  of  Kalid,  encourages 

trade,  368 
Yakub,   chief  of   the  Soffarides, 

404,     405  ;     takes    Korassan, 

405 
Yathrib  (see  Medina),    counsels 
peace,    89  ;    parties   at,    127  ; 
pilgrims    from,     look    for   the 
Mahdi,  100 
Year  of  Ashes,  The,  252 
Year  of  the  Elephant,  38 
Yemen,    the    home    of  mythical 
Joktan,  8;  under  Persian  influ- 
ence, 62  ;  tribes  of,  summoned 
to  accept  Islam,  174  ;  slaugh- 
ter in,  by  Moawia,  284  ;  access 
to,  improved  by  Mehdi,  362 
Yermuk,  Victory  on  the,  231,  234 
Yezdigerd,  Fall  of,  256,  258 
Yezid  (Yazid)  destined  to  become 
successor  of  Moawia,  291,  295  ; 
character  of,  291,  295  ;  makes 
changes  in  the  kalifate,  297  ; 
prepares    to    oppose    Hosein, 
301  ;  cast  off  at  Medina,  306  ; 
death  of,  307  ;  luxury  of,  308 
Yezid  II.  becomes  kalif,  338 
Yezjd  III.,  Accession  of,  347 


INDEX. 


493 


Zab,  Decisive  battle  on  the,  351 
Zeinab,   Mohammed  enamoured 

of,  160 
Zem-Zem,  The  waters  of,  24 
Zeyd,  the  Koreishite,  longs  for  a 

pure  religion,  51 
Zeyd,    Mohammed's    freedman, 

accepts    Islam,    81  ;    divorces 

Zeinab,   160 ;  name  of,  in  the 


Koran,     161  ;     commands   an 

army  against  the  Romans,  179; 

killed  at  Muta,  180 
Ziyad  won  over  by  Moawia,  290 
Zobeir  presented    as    candidate 

for    kalif,    272  ;     and    Talha 

claim  office  under  AH,  274 
Zoe  influences  Constantine  VII. 

against  the  Saracens,  416 
Zoroastrianism     fire-worship    in 

Persia,  62 


^^^^ 

^^^^ 

^ 

^^8 

^^s 

s 

TLhc  Stotip  of  the  Bations. 


Messrs.  G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS  take  pleasure  in 
announcing  that  they  have  in  course  of  pubHcation,  in 
co-operation  with  Mr.  T.  Fisher  Unwin,  of  London,  a 
series  of  historical  studies,  intended  to  present  in  a 
graphic  manner  the  stories  of  the  different  nations  that 
have  attained  prominence  in  history. 

In  the  story  form  the  current  of  each  national  life  is 
distinctly  indicated,  and  its  picturesque  and  noteworthy 
periods  and  episodes  are  presented  for  the  reader  in  their 
philosophical  relation  to  each  other  as  well  as  to  universal 
history. 

It  is  the  plan  of  the  writers  of  the  different  volumes  to 
enter  into  the  real  life  of  the  peoples,  and  to  bring  them 
before  the  reader  as  they  actually  lived,  labored,  and 
struggled — as  they  studied  and  wrote,  and  as  they  amused 
themselves.  In  carrying  out  this  plan,  the  myths,  with 
which  the  history  of  all  lands  begins,  will  not  be  over- 
looked, though  these  will  be  carefully  distinguished  from 
the  actual  history,  so  far  as  the  labors  of  the  accepted 
historical  authorities  have  resulted  in  definite  conclusions. 

The  subjects  of  the  different  volumes  have  been  planned 
to  cover  connecting  and,  as  far  as  possible,  consecutive 
epochs  or  periods,  so  that  the  set  when  completed  will 
present  in  a  comprehensive  narrative  the  chief  events  in 


the  great  Story  of  the  Nations  ;  but  it  is,  of  course 
(lot  always  practicable  to  issue  the  several  volumes  in 
their  chronological  order. 

The  "  Stories  "  are  printed  in  good  readable  type,  and 
in  handsome  i2mo  form.  They  are  adequately  illustrated 
and  furnished  with  maps  and  indexes.  Price,  per  vol., 
cloth,  $1.50.     Half  morocco,  gilt  top,  $1.75. 

The  following  volumes  are  now  ready  (May,  1893): 

THE  story  of  GREECE.     Prof.  JAS.  A.  Harrison. 
"         "   ROME.    Arthur  Oilman. 

"    THE  JEWS.     Prof.  James  K.  HosMER. 

•'   CHALDEA.     Z.  A.  Ragozin. 
«'         *'   GERMANY.     S.  Baring-Gould. 

*'   NORWAY.     Hjalmar  H.  Boyesen. 

"   SPAIN.     Rev.  E.  E.  and  Susan  Hale. 

**    HUNGARY.     Prof  A.  VAmbery. 

*'   CARTHAGE.     Prof.  Alfred  J.  Church. 

"   THE  SARACENS.     Arthur  Oilman. 

"   THE  MOORS  IN  SPAIN.     Stanley  Lane-Poole. 

*'   THE  NORMANS.    Sarah  Orne  Jewett. 

•'   PERSIA.    S.  G.  W.  Benjamin. 

"   ANCIENT  EGYPT.     Prof.  Geo.  Rawlinson. 

"   ALEXANDER'S  EMPIRE.     Prof.  J.  P.  Mahaffy. 

"  ASSYRIA.     Z.  A.  Ragozin. 

"   THE  GOTHS.     Henry  Bradley. 

"   IRELAND.     Hon.  Emily  Lawless. 

"   TURKEY.     Stanley  Lane-Poole. 

"   MEDIA,  BABYLON,  AND  PERSIA.  Z.  A.  Ragozin. 

"   MEDIEVAL  FRANCE.     Prof.  Gustave  Masson. 

"   HOLLAND.     Prof.  J.  Thorold  Rogers. 

"  MEXICO.    Susan  Hale. 

"   PHOENICIA.     Prof.  Geo.  Rawlinson. 

"   THE  HANSA  TOWNS.     Helen  Zimmern. 

"   EARLY  BRITAIN.     Prof.  Alfred  J.  Church. 

"   THE  BARBARY  CORSAIRS.  Stanley  Lane-Poole 

"   RUSSIA.    W.  R.  Morfill. 

*'   THE  TEWS  UNDER  ROME.     W.  D.  Morrison. 

*'  SCOTLAND.    John  Mackintosh. 

««   SWITZERLAND.     R.  Stead  and  Mrs.  A.  Hug. 

•'   PORTUGAL.     H.  Morse  Stephens. 

"    THE  BYZANTINE  EMPIRE.     C.  W.  C.  Oman. 

"   SICILY.     E.  A.  Freeman. 

"   THE  TUSCAN  REPUBLICS.     Bella  Duffy. 
"         *'  POLAND.    W.  R.  Morfill. 


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IDeroes  of  the  IRations, 

EDITED    BY 

EVELYN  ABBOTT,  M.A.,  Fellow  of  Balliol  College,  Oxford. 


A  Series  of  biographical  studies  of  the  lives  and  work 
of  a  number  of  representative  historical  characters  about 
whom  have  gathered  the  great  traditions  of  the  Nations 
to  which  they  belonged,  and  who  have  been  accepted,  in 
many  instances,  as  types  of  the  several  National  ideals 
With  the  life  of  each  typical  character  will  be  presentee 
a  picture  of  the  National  conditions  surrounding  him 
during  his  career. 

The  narratives  are  the  work  of  writers  who  are  recog- 
nized authorities  on  their  several  subjects,  and,  while 
thoroughly  trustworthy  as  history,  will  present  picturesque 
and  dramatic  "stories  "  of  the  Men  and  of  the  events  con- 
nected with  them. 

To  the  Life  of  each  "  Hero  "  will  be  given  one  duo- 
decimo volume,  handsomely  printed  in  large  type,  pro- 
vided with  maps  and  adequately  illustrated  according  to 
the  special  requirements  of  the  several  subjects.  The 
volumes  will  be  sold  separately  as  follows : 

Cloth  extra $150 

Half  morocco,  uncut  edges,  gilt  top       .         .         .        i   75 
Large  paper,  limited  to  250  numbered  copies  for 
subscribers  to  the  series.     These  may  be  ob- 
tained in  sheets    folded,   or   in   cloth,  uncut 
edges       ........       3  50 


The    first    group    of    the    Series    will   comprise   twelve 
volumes,  as  follows : 
Nelson,   and   the    Naval    Supremacy   of    England.     By  W.    Clark 

Russell,  author  of  "  Tbe  Wreck  of  the  Grosvenor,"  etc. 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  and  the  Struggle  of  Protestantism  for  Exist- 
ence.    By  C.  R.  L.  Fletcher,  M.  A.,  late  Fellow  of  All  Souls  College, 

Oxford. 
Pericles,  and  the  Golden  Age  of  Athens.     By  Evelyn  Abbott,  M.A., 

Fellow  of  Balliol  College,  Oxford. 
Theodoric  the  Goth,  the  Barbarian  Champion  of  Civilization.     By 

Thomas  Hodgkin,  author  of  "  Italy  and  Her  Invaders,"  etc. 
Sir  Philip  Sidney,  and  the  Chivalry  of  England.     By  H.  R.  Fox« 

Bourne,  author  of  "  The  Life  of  John  Locke,"  etc. 
Julius  Caesar,  and  the  Organization  of  the  Roman  Empire.      By 

W.  Warde  Fowler,  M.A.,  Fellow  of  Lincoln  College,  Oxford. 
John  Wyclif,  Last  of  the  Schoolmen  and  First  of  the  English  Re- 
formers.    By  Lewis  Sargeant,  author  of  "New  Greece,"  etc. 
Napoleon,   Warrior   and   Ruler,   and   the    Military  Supremacy   of 

Revolutionary   France.      By  W.    O'Connor    Morris,     sometime 

Scholar  of  Oriel  College,  Oxford. 
Henry  of  Navarre,  and  the  Huguenots  in  France.     By  P.  F.Willert, 

M.A.,  Fellow  of  Exeter  College,  Oxford. 
Alexander  the  Great,  and  the  Extension  of  Greek    Rule  and   of 

Greek  Ideas.     By  Prof.  Benjamin  I.  Wheeler,  Cornell  University. 
Charlemagne,  the  Reorganizer  of  Europe.     By  Prof.  George  L.  Burr, 

Cornell  University. 
Louis  XIV.,  and  the  Zenith  of  the  French  Monarchy.     By  Arthur 

Hassall,  M.A.,  Senior  Student  of  Christ  Church  College,  Oxford. 

To  be  followed  by  : 

Cicero,  and  the  Fall' of  the  Roman  Republic.     By  J.  L.  Strachan 

Davidson,  M.A.,  Fellow  of  Balliol  College,  Oxford. 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  and  the  Adventurers  of  England.     By  A.  L, 

Smith,  M.A.,  Fellow  of  Balliol' College,  Oxford. 
Bismarck.     The  New  German  Empire  :    How  It  Arose  ;   What  It 

Replaced;  and  What  It  Stands  For.     By  James  Sime,  author  of 

"  A  Life  of  Lessing,"  etc. 
William  of  Orange,  the  Founder  of  the  Dutch  Republic.     By  Ruth 

Putnam. 
Hannibal,  and   the   Struggle   between   Carthage   and   Rome.      By 

E.    A.   Freeman,   D.C.L.,   LL.D.,    Regius    Prof,    of   History  in  the 

University  of  Oxford. 
Alfred  the  Great,  and  the  First  Kingdom  in  England.      By  F.  York 

Powell,  M.A.,  Senior  Student  of  Christ  Church  College,  Oxford. 
Charles  the  Bold,  and  the  Attempt  to  Found  a  Middle  Kingdom. 

By  R.  Lodge,  M.A.,  Fellow  of  Brasenose  College,  Oxford. 
John  Calvin,  the  Hero  of  the  French  Protestants.      By  Owen  M. 

Edwards,  Fellow  of  Lincoln  College,  Oxford. 
Oliver  Cromwell,  and  the   Rule  of  the  Puritans  in  England.      By 

Charles  Firth,  Balliol  College,  Oxford. 
Marlborough,   and    England   as   a    Military    Power.     By  C.  W.  C. 

Oman,  A.M.,  Fellow  of  All  Souls  College,  Oxford. 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 

NEW   YORK  LONDON 

27   WEST   TWENTY-THIRD    ST.  -  24    BEDFORD    ST.,    STRANE 


